What Lies Ahead
by demonicfaerie2009
Summary: Six months after 4X12 and they haven't run across anyone else. What are Beth and Daryl supposed to do? Rated 'T' for Language, Violence, Hints towards Sex.
1. Days Gone By

**Disclaimer: Do not own ****_The Walking Dead_**** or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: First TWD-fic. Set six months after 4X12 "****_Still_****", completely AU.**

–

It'd been six months since the prison. Six months since she'd seen her sister alive. Six months since she'd watched her father murdered. Only now was she really realizing how long it had been and all that had happened since. When she looked back on it all Beth honestly couldn't say if it were all good, all bad or even in between. Six months alone with Daryl Dixon wasn't really something she could pin a single emotion to. He was one of the most frustrating people she'd ever had the pleasure of spending any amount of time with, yet at the same time he was one of the best people to be with.

While Beth didn't want to believe that she needed to rely on someone–especially after Daryl had screamed it at her–the girl knew that she'd needed him. Without Daryl she probably would have been dead a long time ago. He'd helped to keep her alive by teaching her the things she never would have learned on her own. He taught her to hunt, he was teaching her to track and to use the crossbow. He'd made a short bow for her to use and the two had made arrows for it. Honestly, she was certain that if she'd wound up with anyone else when the prison fell she'd be dead by now.

While Daryl had helped to make her stronger, there were just some things that couldn't be changed. For instance, Beth was emotional. She was very tied to her emotions and she held onto that. Even when everything came crashing down around them and she wanted nothing more than to shut it all out, the little blonde held onto her emotional side. She maintained her firm belief that there was still good in the world, they just had to find it. Unfortunately, thinking about the potential good in the world opened her up to seeing all the truly negative things out there too. It was hard to think about the negative sometimes.

Which was why Beth had broken down four separate times since the night they'd burned the old shack to the ground in a drunken blaze of glory–no pun intended–over various things like her fathers death or the worry of never seeing her sister again, once she had even cried for baby Judith, wondering where the little one was. It was hard to think that little baby Judith was gone, but the sad reality was that she had probably died at the prison; if not, then soon after. It had been hard enough to find food for her while they'd remained in one place; Beth couldn't begin to dream about how difficult it was to do while on the run. Not to mention making an attempt to keep a baby quiet in the open when there could be walkers anywhere.

Daryl, on the other hand, had been a lot stronger than her. She'd seen him cry that day at the shack and twice after. That day at the shack had pretty much been the start of everything. He'd finally knocked down some of the walls he'd built throughout his life to protect himself, if only a couple of them to allow her to see a different side of him, to allow her to get just a little closer to him. The second time he'd cried he must have thought she was asleep and he'd broken down as he thought of Merle. She couldn't say that she blamed him, even if she didn't like the elder brother, it was his family. The last had been when she'd cried for baby Judith, he'd even cried a little then. Daryl had loved the kid, anyone could have seen it. He was sweet on his little ass kicker. The petite woman couldn't say she blamed him on that either. Judith was an amazing baby.

Tonight's breakdown had been slightly different from the rest for her. Sure, she'd cried like all the rest. Yes, Daryl had looked at her like she was a complete idiot, then set in the awkwardness of what to do before he placed his hand on her back and attempted to comfort her while trying to figure out what was wrong with the girl. What had been wrong? She'd realized that today–which was now over–was her nineteenth birthday.

The first birthday ever that she was celebrating–and not even that–without her family. Yes, Daryl was with her and she considered him family, but all the same she'd never felt so alone. Her mother was dead, her father murdered, her aunt dead, her sister in the wind. What else did she have? The other survivors from the prison? She hadn't seen them in six months. Daryl? Sometimes she wondered if he would have rather left her on her own than taken her under his wing.

Of course, he always told her differently, in his own way. His actions told her that he didn't mind her being with him. Like, how he'd taught her how to shoot the crossbow. Beth didn't count the night at the shack, they'd been drunk and he'd been angry. She could now easily take down a deer, so long as it was within 20 yards, anyway. He'd taught her how to skin an animal properly, something she felt she should have known ages ago. He helped her to understand which berries they came across were bad. He even taught her how to make jerky on the go. Sure, it wasn't like what she'd bought in the store so many years ago, but it was good enough.

Beth had actually taken to a lot of it really easily and Daryl had been impressed; at least, he seemed to be. He never told her any differently. A quiet sigh escaped her lips as she pulled the lean arm a little tighter around her waist, gripping his hand in her own under her chin. This wasn't the first time that they had laid together like this. Sometimes there wasn't much of a choice. With winter setting in it was pretty cold, so the two had gotten into a habit of curling up together in whatever house they could find under whatever blankets they could find (or whatever cloth they could fashion into blankets). Beth had one blanket of her own, having snatched it from a house a month or so back, but that one blanket didn't do much against the cold that seeped in and stuck to their bones.

Most nights started with Daryl's arm draped around her slender waist and his warm breath on the back of her neck and ended with Beth laying on the outside of the blankets trying to cool off, or keep her mind clear. For the last year she'd felt something stirring inside toward Daryl and she'd ignored it. Mostly out of respect for Carol because, let's face it, Daryl had always had a bit of a soft spot for the woman.

But now? Carol wasn't around. Daryl had long since stopped searching for Carol and the rest of the survivors from their group. Beth wasn't searching anymore but she hadn't given up hope that they would find someone. Eventually. Hopefully. They were almost completely alone out here. Beth was steadily getting used to it and that actually scared her. The thought that they could be so utterly alone while only six months ago they had been surrounded by people was scary. They hadn't run across anyone else in these last six months. Well, there had been that old man a couple months ago, but Beth did her best not to think of him.

It felt almost like an eternity ago that they'd run across the old man; being completely alone with Daryl seemed to make time go so much slower. If Beth didn't keep a mental track of the days she probably wouldn't have even known it had been her birthday. That was one thing she'd done since the start of this, keep track of how much time had passed. It wasn't as if she could rely on her phone or computer or even a newspaper. All of those had been lost when the world began to crumble away.

Beth was certain it'd been just over two months since they'd seen the man. He'd seemed like a sweet guy that had hardened in the cruel world. If she'd had to guess at his age he would have been going into his sixties, not too much younger than her father had been. She and Daryl had been on the run from a herd of walkers, they'd taken down a few before realizing that there were just too many of them for the two of them alone. They run down through the woods in the hopes of finding some sort of shelter, some place to hole themselves up until the herd had passed; at one point Beth had even suggested climbing a tree but Daryl had been opposed because he knew that the walkers would still be able to smell and see them.

They'd splashed through the drying riverbed on their run and when they'd come up on the other side the old man had been standing there with a shotgun in his hand. He fired off both rounds, the buckshot taking out several of the walkers that were closing in, then ordered them to follow him. Neither had the luxury of taking the time to discuss the man who'd come out of nowhere, so had followed without question. For being an old man he ran pretty fast, too.

In a clearing ahead both could see a small cabin and Daryl had shaken his head, knowing that it wouldn't matter if they'd hidden inside; the walkers behind them would tear through the house. The old man had surprised the both of them, though, when he stopped several yards from the house and ripped open an old cellar door. Beth was immediately reminded of a tornado shelter she'd once seen on television. Without a word the three had dropped into the space, Beth catching a glimpse of a small store of food, a bunk and several books before the door was closed and the light was diminished.

She'd moved toward the sound of Daryl's breathing in the dark until her shoulder bumped against his back. Seconds later and she felt him shift to stand in front of her protectively, the crossbow still held up in defense. Instead of pointing it at the man, it had been pointed toward the door. Though, it didn't much matter. If that group of walkers had come crashing into this small space all three of them would have been doomed.

They were silent as they listened to the walkers moan and groan above. It felt like hours had passed by them while waiting for the herd to move on, though it was only a couple of minutes. When there was enough silence outside to deem it safe, the old man had walked through the darkness, dry coughing into his hand before a small squeak sounded followed immediately by a small circle of light from the kerosene lantern he'd lit. It didn't allow for much light, but it was enough to see around the space a little better.

The old man had introduced himself as Jed and had told them that he had only saved them because he'd been out hunting. He'd heard the walkers crashing through the trees with their excited moans and knew that the creatures had to have been chasing someone down. After another lengthy coughing spell that nearly took his knees out from under him, Beth had asked if he was alright. Jed assured them that it was just a cold and he'd get over it soon enough. He offered them shelter and food for the night, provided they didn't steal anything from him.

Admittedly, there wasn't much of anything _to_ steal but both had agreed readily enough. The two had ended up staying with the old man for three nights, each day saw a worsening in his cough. Daryl had wanted to leave, probably assuming that there wasn't much they could do anyway or that the old man wasn't their problem. Beth assumed it was more the latter. She was worried, however, and didn't feel as if they should leave while he was in such a weakened state.

Later that night she regretted that decision. After dinner they'd all settled in to sleep with the plan that Daryl would go hunting first thing in the morning and try to find them something more to eat. It had almost been a relief to fall asleep to silence, for the first time in days Jed hadn't been coughing through the majority of the night. Why hadn't he coughed through the whole night? He'd died after he'd laid down to sleep. Neither she nor Daryl had realized this until she'd been startled awake by the screeching rasp of a walker. Her first thought was that one had managed to get in through the door and she'd reached over to shake Daryl's shoulder. He grunted quietly in his sleep before the sound jarred him awake as well.

In the darkness she heard him shuffle about to sit up, then the scrape of metal as the crossbow slid across the floor when he'd picked it up. It was difficult to tell exactly where the walker was in the darkness and Beth had been terrified to reach out and turn the lamp on since she knew it would draw attention to them, but she also knew that they needed to see it and keep it from getting to Jed. In one swift movement she reached out and twisted the dial with a squeak, lighting the room enough for Daryl to have a better view of the walker in question.

She'd gasped in shock upon seeing that the walker _was_ Jed and milliseconds later Daryl had put a bolt through the man's head. He'd been a gruff old man, one who was probably a kind and gentle soul before the fall of every. Beth was betting that he'd lost enough and seen enough to grow a thick skin, which was why he'd seemed a little crotchety. Of course, that also could have just come with age. Needless to say, neither of them had gone back to sleep that night nor had they stayed in the cramped space.

Her pale eyes closed as she exhaled when Daryl's arm tightened slightly around her, pulling her closer to his chest in his sleep as well as drawing her from the memories. Hearing the shiver in the breath he let out brought a frown to her lips. She couldn't understand how he was so much colder than she was. It was almost as if he was constantly at a cooler temperature than those around him. It just didn't seem logical for someone who had been born and raised in Georgia to not be used to the chill of winter. Although, she had to admit that the winters were harsher now than they'd been before the apocalypse. Perhaps it was because everyone was so used to having heat and warmth that living without was a lot more difficult.

Daryl mumbled something in his sleep and tightened his grip around her thin frame at the same time which pushed the air from her lungs. It sounded as though he was having another nightmare. It wouldn't be the first one since they were alone. She'd seen him toss and turn in his sleep, plagued by some demons of his past that he refused to speak of many times before. It wasn't as if she could blame him for it, either. Daryl had more horrors in his past than she could ever imagine, not that she wanted to.

Beth sighed and pulled at his arm until she could at least roll onto her other side, facing him. She reached up a hand to gently brush through his dark hair, careful not to jostle him awake, until a calm state took over took him over. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, at least when he wasn't tossing and turning from his nightmares; unlike in his waking hours when he appeared to be carrying the weight of the world with him. He mumbled something more and a tender smile pulled at her lips as her gaze was drawn to his lips. Beth wondered, not for the first time, what it would be like to kiss him.

She sometimes allowed her thoughts to dance toward not exactly the most pure of things about him. The young girl wondered if he thought about it too. Six months with nothing else, with no one else, it seemed only natural, right?

Her palm rested against his cheek, watching him sleep for the time being. It was the first time in almost a week that they were able to sleep for more than a few hours at a time, usually the cold woke them.. or the dead did. The house they'd managed to camp in tonight had some thick comforters from the previous owners and a small stash of food in the cupboards that other survivors hadn't taken. Actually, for the most part the house was untouched. There had been clothes that they both could wear–Beth's being only slightly too large–and a bathtub that they had melted some snow in so that they could wash up.

Truthfully, the girl hadn't felt this clean in months, or this full. It was amazing that she'd had any trouble falling asleep at all, what with a full stomach and all the crying from earlier. Daryl had barely laid his head down before he'd passed out. That wasn't atypical. While he usually fought not to fall into the realm of unconsciousness, when he finally did settle in for sleep he could fall out pretty easily. The girl sighed softly at her rampant thoughts. Beth hated nights like this, the nights when she tossed and turned and couldn't get comfortable because her thoughts were all over the place. She assumed it was from having cried so much and naturally with the tears came the thoughts of her sister and father and mother and aunt and Carl and everyone from the prison. Perhaps that was all it was. Worry was keeping her awake. It wouldn't be the first time.

Her thumb gently stroked Daryl's cheek as he mumbled something more, hoping to calm him. He seemed to talk in his sleep a lot, as if he were constantly fighting some sort of battle. Although, he did carry a lot of weight. She frowned again before nuzzling herself even closer, closing her eyes as the warmth trapped between the comforters touched her cold nose and began to course through her. With a heavy sigh she forced her mind to empty and focused on relaxing herself so that she too could get some sleep.

No sooner was Beth able to calm her mind and begin to drift off did she hear it. The soft moaning and groaning of a walker in the distance. Her slender frame stiffened as she listened to it grow closer and closer. Her gaze jumped to his face and quickly noticed that he was still completely out. It would take more than the groan of one walker to wake him, as deeply as he had fallen out tonight. Without a word the blonde slipped from under his arm and the covers into the cold of the house. Her sock-covered feet hit the floor and instantly a shiver rocked through her. While she knew that she was a little warmer than Daryl, the below freezing temperature in the house could easily get to her.

Without a glance back toward Daryl she walked to the window, snatching the hand-made bow she'd been working with from the floor along the way. Pale eyes darted over the unkempt lawn that had once held a swing-set and a dog house. Both were nearly hidden in the overgrown grass. It didn't take long in the moonlight to find the slowly shuffling figure that was making its way toward the house. She glanced back at Daryl once more for only a moment, then toward the window again. It wasn't the first time she'd taken on a walker alone and it probably wouldn't be the last, so Beth didn't put much thought into the action as she stooped to grab several wooden arrows from the floor.

She would have used Daryl's crossbow if it weren't for the fact that they were starting to run low on bolts for it, and it wasn't easily maneuverable inside–at least not for her. She and Daryl had been training with a standard bow that Daryl had built himself and arrows. Beth had to admit that she was getting pretty good at it, too. Nowhere near as good as Daryl was with either his crossbow or hers, but she was slowly getting there. She crept silently out of the room and across the hall to the bathroom. It was the only window on the second floor that opened easily, still gave her a good view of the walker in the back and had a door that she could close to keep the cold air from getting to the sleeping man in the next room.

Beth slid the window up quietly. She searched for the walker and quickly found him before taking aim. The girl made sure the walker was within her sight, then let the arrow fly. A muttered curse fell from her lips as the arrow sailed over its head and landed quietly in the grass behind it. Frowning, she set another arrow, took aim and let it loose. This time it struck the walker in the gut. Not what she was aiming for, but it was better than nothing. A shiver coursed through her as the cold night air began to seep into her skin, sticking to the bone. Two arrows down, three left, the girl grasped another off the floor and took aim. Narrowing her sight, then pushing through the second shiver that ran through her, Beth let the arrow loose.

If it weren't for the fact that she'd learned how to keep quiet the girl would have whooped happily as it snapped through the walkers forehead. Seconds later it crumpled to the ground. Without the ability to scream and shout the girl did a tiny little victory dance before stepping up to the window and staring out. Her now trained ears listened for any sound on the wind. After several long moments of silence she smirked and pulled the window shut, cutting the icy breeze out.

It didn't take long to gather up her bow and the remaining arrows and scamper back across the hall to where she could hear Daryl's deep-sleeping breaths. A smile tugged at her lips at her little victory as she set everything back into it's place against the wall, then made her way across the cold floor to the bed once more.

Beth tried to slink under the covers without waking him, but the obvious chill to her pale skin was enough to seep into his and with a shivering breath he jerked awake. His dark blue eyes darted around the room while he quickly propped himself onto his elbow, on full alert. Not seeing or hearing any danger, his gaze dropped to the girl's face where a smile was slowly creeping onto her lips, though it was apparent that she was trying not to allow it.

"What's so funny?" he asked in a half-whisper.

"Nothing," Beth responded quickly, shaking her head.

His eyes narrowed down at her, not believing it. After another glance around the room and a brief listen for anything outside he settled back down beside her, his gaze dancing over her pale features. "You're freezin'..." he murmured.

"There was a walker outside, figured I'd shoot it before it brought any attention to itself and us."

"How many arrows d'you use?"

"Three," she stated and frowned slightly at the one forming on his lips. "We can grab 'em back tomorrow, I know where they are."

Daryl nodded and let his gaze play over her face for a moment or two, then wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer under the covers, shivering at the cold that radiated from her. "Get some sleep, still got a couple hours till sun-up."

Beth nodded quickly and curled into his side, gratefully soaking up his warmth. It didn't take long, with her now relaxed mind and body, to drift off as his arms wound around her with one hand carefully combing through her blonde hair.

–

**Reviews? Might add more to this depending on what people want/think.**


	2. Say The Word

**Disclaimer: Do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_** or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

–

Now that he looked back on it, Daryl had never slept as comfortably as he did when the girl was curled up next to him. She'd slept peacefully through the remainder of the night with her arms wrapped as tightly around him as she could in her sleep. He'd played with her curly hair until she'd crashed out before laying there staring at the ceiling. He'd been in crisis with himself for the last two months, but he didn't want to admit it aloud. Especially to Beth.

Beth had enough on her mind without worrying about what was going through his. He hadn't realized until today, when Beth had broken down over the fact that it was her nineteenth birthday, that she was technically an adult. He just couldn't stop seeing her as a kid, a kid that he felt himself growing closer to every day. That had been his crisis. He loved the kid. But Beth wasn't a kid anymore. She was a nineteen year old woman. He'd felt himself falling for her about two months back when she'd shot a deer through the eye with his crossbow and then helped him to not only skin it, but cook it. Then she'd suggested trying to dry out the pelt and make a coat. Of course, she didn't realize it would take more time than they had to accomplish that, but he'd been so proud of her for helping and digging her hands in that he'd hugged her without invitation.

And as she'd awkwardly hugged him back he'd realized it. Naturally, he had then pulled away and went back to what he was doing in awkward silence. Typical Daryl. When shit got tough or too emotional, hide inside himself. Even with trying to keep his distance, if only because in his mind he saw her as a child and it was wrong to feel so strongly for her, he wasn't able to. They traveled together, they ate together, they hunted together, they slept in the same room. And when winter set in and that cold took over they slept in the same bed.

He could still remember the first night they'd curled up together with perfect clarity–well, not counting the night they'd laid in the trunk of the car since neither of them had actually slept. They'd taken camp in an old, drafty barn. After having swept the place for walkers they'd climbed up to the loft where they had laid on the hay bales. Beth had been smart enough to roll a flannel blanket up tight and strap it to her backpack months before so she'd at least had a blanket, Daryl had naturally tried to be macho about it. The temperature had dropped suddenly during the night to well below zero, leaving him shivering from the cold. His teeth had chattered so much that he'd been surprised any walker in a five mile radius hadn't come crawling toward them.

Apparently his shivers had awoken Beth or she'd been cold enough to be awake, too. She had then come over and laid with him, wrapping him in her blanket as well. Since that night they'd curled up together pretty often until it had become a nightly thing. When it was time to sleep, they just laid together as if it were the most natural thing in the world. How long ago had that been? Six weeks…maybe? He couldn't really remember, but Daryl knew that it was long enough that he was completely comfortable lying beside her. So much so that he could fall asleep without even forcing it. Most nights anymore he was asleep before he'd even gotten comfortable. If it weren't for the fact that they were only catching a couple of hours here and there it might have been different.

Her cold fingers brushed across the underside of his arm, startling him back to awareness. With a glance down at her pale face he noticed she was still out cold and was unable to keep a faint smirk from pulling at the corner of his mouth.

At the start of their adventure alone into the wilderness Daryl would have much rather been with…anyone else. Michonne, because the woman was nothing short of amazing. The way she handled that sword was…well, he sort of loved her. More of the sister he'd never had than anything else, really. Maggie, because even though she didn't look like much, she was one tough bitch. She'd done some pretty amazing things in the time he'd known her. Rick, Carl and Judith, because they were the closest to family he'd ever really had. Carol.

A sigh parted his lips as he thought the name. Carol. Sure, he'd cared about her, pretty deep too if he were honest with himself, but he didn't love her. Everyone seemed to think that he loved her, but he never had. He had cared about her in the way that a close friend cares about another or an older brother cares for his younger sister. But as a lover? No. There had never even been a notion of romanticism between him and Carol. Especially not after Rick had told him when that woman had done. Daryl didn't know that he wanted to believe that Carol had killed those two people at the prison. She'd always seemed too gentle for something so violent. At the same time he trusted Rick wholeheartedly and didn't think that the guy was going to lie to him, particularly about something like that.

So when it came to romantic feelings toward Carol, there were none. Honestly, Daryl had only ever felt that way about one girl before now. Carly Mayweather. A thin little brunette with the biggest green eyes he'd ever seen. She was one of those smart girls who looked too pretty to be as smart as she was. She'd looked almost like a model in a magazines. That had been when he was 13 years old and Carly had been almost 4 years older than him. He'd only ever felt that way for one girl…until two months ago.

As Beth snuggled closer to his side in her sleep, his grip on her tightened, and he peered down at her for a moment. She was pretty in sleep, if only because her guard was down. Whether the girl wanted to admit it or not she'd built a bit of a wall around herself that kept most everyone at arm's length and since her dad...

Daryl frowned at the thought of Hershel. He was a good man and it had hurt to see him go; thankfully Michonne had put an end to the bastard that had done it. But ever since her dad had died and the group had been split up Beth had a tendency to push further at the only person with her. Yeah, they talked and they had their moments, but for the most part Beth kept a lot to herself. Or maybe it was just because he was keeping a lot more to himself that he figured she was too.

He couldn't sleep, not now that she'd woken him with her cold body snaking under the covers. His dark blue eyes danced over her pretty face for a moment or two, then he brushed his fingers back through her pale hair before leaning over and pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. It wasn't the first time he'd done it, but it had always been when she wasn't aware of it.

The action caused Beth's hold to tighten on him as she mumbled something incoherent in her sleep while nuzzling closer to his side. Daryl would have been content to just hold onto her, to let her sleep the rest of the night while he laid there and kept watch. It wasn't as if they really needed to keep watch, though. They hadn't really come across anyone else in a long time and he was thankful for that, but at the same time he sort of hoped that eventually they would come across someone from the prison, if only to ignite that hope back in her. He noticed it fading with every single day that passed where they heard nothing or saw nothing from their old group and it actually broke his heart.

They stayed like this for the next hour or so before she became warm again and it seeped into his skin. With the warmth clinging to him it was simple for him to drift back into unconsciousness. If not for the fact that the last month or so had had him running on little to no sleep every night just to ensure she got a couple of hours more, then he probably wouldn't have been so exhausted now. Daryl was used to only getting a couple hours a night, but after a while it did tend to take its toll on him. It would on anyone.

–

The afternoon sun woke him, streaming brightly through the window onto his exposed face. It was with a groan that he pulled his arm from around Beth to rub at his eyes in the hopes that the sunlight would vanish again. Unfortunately daylight had set in, probably hours ago and neither of them noticed. After glancing down at her Daryl wanted to let her sleep longer because she looked so damned peaceful, but they needed to gather her arrows off the walker she'd killed in the middle of the night and probably get a move on. He didn't like to stay in one place for too long. Even with hoping that they would run across someone from the prison, he still worried about the rest of humanity out here. There was so much bad left in the world. Daryl didn't have much trust for the people left in the world, most of the good was gone out of them now. Beth was a bit of a miracle to still see the good in much of anything and to still have something so pure about her.

"Beth, wake up," he commanded quietly while shaking her shoulder. The blonde responded by groaning and shaking her head while tightening her grip on his waist, then burying her face into his side. Daryl actually had to fight off a laugh at her before shaking her again. "Come on, girl, wake up," he insisted and gave her another shake.

"Do I have to?" she asked groggily, her voice muffled slightly by his shirt.

"Daylights burnin'. We gotta get movin'."

"Mmm.." was the only response he got as she buried her face deeper into his side in the hopes of blocking the sunlight out and keeping herself toasty warm.

Daryl smirked slightly at the feel of her tucked so closely to him before an almost silent laugh fell from his lips. He didn't want to admit how much he enjoyed it. "You know…it's cold outside these blankets. I'd bet if I yanked 'em off you'd wake up," he teased while reaching behind her to grip the corner of the comforter.

Almost instantly her eyes shot wide open and she jerked her head up to look at him. "Don't!"

He chuckled at the plea in her tone. "No?"

"Can't we just…stay here another night? I mean, there's food and it's warm…ish. Please? I'm tired of always being on the move…"

The pleading in her voice this time didn't inspire another laugh, instead he frowned softly. Truth be told, they'd been on the road almost non-stop for the last month and he could use the rest, too. Whether it was the best thing for them to do or not was beyond the question now. Daryl had been doing almost everything in his power to keep Beth happy, so her request was pretty difficult to deny. Naturally, Daryl tried to disguise his emotions, so he rolled his eyes at her. "Fine."

The petite woman smiled brightly and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug that wound up with his face buried in her hair. "Thanks." She rejoiced as Daryl fought not to clutch her back. When she released him Daryl pulled himself back with a faint smile down at her.

"Let's get somethin' to eat." With that statement Daryl slid out of the warmth of the covers and into the cold bedroom. A shiver crept through him as he quickly shoved his feet down into his boots in the attempt to block out some of the cold that stuck to everything. He grabbed his jacket off the floor and while pulling it tightly around himself Daryl started walking toward the door. Once he'd reached it he glanced back. "Comin'?" Beth nodded in response, slowly extracting herself from the warmth of their bedding as he stepped out into the hall.

In the kitchen, Daryl dug through the cupboards until he'd found what he'd been searching for: a couple cans of fruit and a can of spam. It didn't take long before he'd found two forks and a can opener in one of the drawers. As he opened the first can of fruit he heard her footsteps on the stairs before she rounded the corner, bundled in a sweater with her arms tucked close to herself for warmth.

Beth pulled herself to sit on the counter beside where he stood, pale blue eyes dancing around the kitchen for a moment. It was small and modern, with light paneling and cupboards, dark granite counters and silver appliances. Almost the sort of kitchen that reminded her of the farm. She had to quickly push thoughts of the farm from her head before her sobs from the day before could return. "You know what I miss?" she asked while reaching for the cold fork and half-frozen can of fruit. Daryl nodded in response, but said nothing. "Eggs. Sunny-side up with some pancakes on the side, mm, and some sausage links." She remembered with a far off look in her eyes.

"Sunny-side up, you mean you ate 'em all gooey?"

"Yeah!" She responded with a laugh, looking him over through narrowed eyes. "You mean to tell me you'd never eaten them that way, Daryl Dixon?"

"'Course I have. Dip some toast in it? Pretty fine cuisine, if I do say so myself." He countered and chuckled while spearing a piece of pear in his can.

Beth smiled brightly as she chewed on a grape. Her gaze wandered for a moment, darting back to him at the sound of his voice. "Know what I miss?" he asked; her only response was to arch a brow. "Chocolate chip pancakes," he said with a smile pulling on his lips. Daryl could remember Merle making them one day, before they'd both gotten sick of their fathers abuse and left, in their tiny kitchen. The chocolate chips had been scalding hot, the syrup cold, the pancakes partially burnt but over all it'd been a great breakfast, if only because it was something that he'd been able to have with his brother.

Beth laughed softly and nodded. "Blueberry pancakes." She could easily remember her mother making them with fresh blueberries from the market and couldn't help but to grin.

"Strawberry waffles," he countered.

"Warm maple syrup," she added with a faint groan, missing the flavor.

"Chocolate milk."

"Pineapples."

"Lasagna."

"Cake."

"Pizza." They stated the last at the same time and doubled up in laughter. The giggles had been coming for the both of them from the start of their back and forth and had easily broken out with their combined speaking.

This wasn't the first time it had happened, this 'you know what I miss' game, and it probably wouldn't be the last either. Usually it ended with their saying the same thing–which happened more than he would have believed–or with something happening to distract one or the other. Daryl couldn't deny that having her smile and laugh the way she did was beautiful. She didn't do either often enough anymore and he enjoyed the moments when it did happen. Not paying close enough attention, he allowed his gaze to linger on her pretty face a little longer than he should have, which prompted her brow to arch up slightly.

"What?" she asked with a hint of a smile lingering around her lips and a soft blush coloring her pale cheeks.

"Nothin'," he responded and shook his head quickly.

Her pale eyes took in his face as he looked back to the can of fruit in front of him. It wasn't the first time she'd caught him staring and it always piqued her curiosity. Most times she said nothing about it, but the way his cheeks flushed today made her even more curious. Perhaps she'd never seen the blush before or maybe today was the first time it had been there, either way she wanted to know why. Unfortunately, she didn't really know how to broach the topic. Beth knew that anytime she asked something that might make him uncomfortable Daryl would clam up, which made it difficult to talk to him sometimes.

"Hurry up an' eat. We gotta go get your arrows outta the yard before we can bunker down."

_Well, there went that idea._ She thought with a sigh. Only moments later and he'd slipped out of the room. Daryl didn't deal well with displays of emotion, if only because almost everyone he'd ever cared about was dead–refusing to believe he would ever see them again was better than hoping to and being crushed when it never happened. Beth had tried to get him to understand that they didn't know. That Maggie and Michonne and Rick could all still be alive out there somewhere, they just didn't know. Daryl was stubborn to a fault, though, and she knew that without proof he would never believe it. She'd learned over time that Daryl relied on what he could put into fact. If he couldn't see it, hear it, taste it, or feel it then it wasn't real. Even those could be falsified dependent upon the circumstances.

He frowned as he stooped to grab their weapons. It was better to take them, even out to the backyard to retrieve her three arrows, and not need them than to get out there and need them but not have them. By the time he got back down the stairs Beth was putting the empty cans at the back of the counter to eliminate some of the mess. She smiled lightly as she took her bow from him. "You know what else I miss?" she asked. The question made him consider his actions a few moments before but his worry was misplaced as the girl glanced around. "Heat."

His brows knitted together in confusion as he looked back at her. "Whatchu talkin' about? Ya got clothes, don't ya?"

His response was enough to make her giggle and shake her head. "No, heat, like with electric to keep it warm all the time."

Daryl nodded lightly, though didn't say anything as they walked to the back door. After pushing the china cabinet out of the way with a squeal as the wooden legs scraped against the wood floorboards, the two silently moved out onto the porch then down into the yard, letting the door swing closed behind them. Daryl had trained the girl pretty well and while one moved ahead the other kept an eye on the grass surrounding them to be sure nothing more was coming. All in all, collecting her arrows was a lot simpler and faster of a process than he would have figured.

From the time they'd opened the door to the time they'd closed it he would guess that only about seven minutes had passed them by. After the cabinet was securely back in front of the door to keep intruders out he brushed a hand back through his hair. "I never had no electric heat," he confided while looking down at her, a soft pant in his voice from moving the heavy cabinet.

"Really?" Beth asked, brows raising in surprise.

"Mhm. Remember the moonshine?"

"Yeah..?" she responded a little hesitantly.

"My house was a lot like that, no heat in the winter 'cept a wood burnin' stove that kept everythin' in a ten foot radius warm and a couple o' blankets. No cold air in the summer except what came in on the breeze," he explained. "Winters seem a lot worse now."

"Probably because there's no one to keep the snow back or the fires lit," she replied with a frown on her lips. Daryl knew she was right; without the warm lights that used to come from every house or the smoke rising from chimneys things seemed a lot colder. Without fires burning and all that global warming crap it definitely meant that the air for winter would be worse. He wondered if within the next hundred years another ice age would take over the world and quickly shook the thought away as he looked down at Beth. She shivered, drawing his attention even more, before turning her pretty eyes up toward him. "Can we just go curl up in the bed and stay warm all day?" she begged.

There was no way in hell Daryl was going to deny her that request. The chance to stay warm, be close to her, and make her happy all in one go? He loved any chance to be close to her, any opportunity to wrap his arms around her. Of course, he was doing a damn good job of keeping that to himself. He wasn't sure why he didn't tell Beth about it all, other than the fact that he just had a hard time with saying things containing that much emotion. "We might wanna take some food up with us, then," he finally told her with a quick nod of his head.

The response obviously pleased her because she grinned brightly, her pale eyes shining happily. Without a word she bounced over to the cupboard and dug around for only a moment before coming back with a can of green beans, a can of tuna and a can of sliced pears. Daryl smirked and stepped over to the counter to grab the can opener from earlier along with two more forks from the drawer before he followed her up the stairs.

–

**Reviews? So many of you liked it and responded with your love for this that I just.. I had to write the next part sooner than I would have figured.**


	3. Claimed

**Disclaimer: Do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_** or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I never really intended for this to become so popular-seriously have gotten more reviews and follows on this story than all my others-and I really only intended on it being a short story, but everyone seems to enjoy it. The more I think about it and the more I write I'm enjoying Beth/Daryl's dynamic and, even though I have other stories I need to work on, I cannot just walk away from this one right now. So, while I didn't plan to write another chapter on this one for at least a couple of days, I can hardly focus on anything beyond Bethyl right now. Enough talk. Onto the chapter!**

–

Beth had climbed out of the bed twice from the time they'd curled up into the blankets until the sun started to set. Daryl had managed to hold his bladder for most of the day for the simple fact that it was too cold. He froze enough already, there was no need to add to it by getting out from under the covers unless it was completely necessary. Each time she slid back under the thick blankets that they'd been pretty much trapped under all day and stuck her cold toes against his legs he barely managed to stifle the groan that threatened to escape him, the cold having seeped easily through her socks and his jeans. They'd talked about various things, the weather, television, things they missed or had wanted to do in life. Anything to keep their minds off of the cold and off of each other.

His arms had wrapped around her both times she'd climbed back into the bed in order to warm her cool skin back up and both times it had been a fight to let her go. It had been difficult to keep his mind off of the various urges that had struck him with her being as close as she was. Daryl wasn't certain just what he would do with any of those urges, but he knew that he should probably contain them. Beth scooted closer to him and draped her arm around his waist, nuzzling herself into his shoulder to get warm, the chill from her cheeks seeping through his shirt. He'd lain with one arm under her while staring up at the ceiling for a long time, at least long enough to get lost in thought.

As Beth shifted beside him he frowned softly, stirring himself back to reality. Daryl turned onto his side, draping the other arm around her as he turned his dark blue gaze down toward her face. Once more, he was amazed to realize just how peaceful she looked in sleep. Like that little angel his mama had put on the top of the Christmas tree–that one year he could actually remember having one anyway. He wasn't sure when Beth had fallen asleep as he laid there watching the sunlight gradually fade from the walls while the sun dipped below the horizon. It couldn't have been more than 5pm and it was already nearly dark outside.

_Man, I miss summer,_ he thought with a frown. Daryl kept reminding himself to 'think warm'…at least that was what Merle had always said in the colder nights. '_Think warm an' you'll stay that way, Daryl,_' his brother's voice played through his head. He could easily remember a relatively cold winter when he was a kid, his old man had kicked the crap out of him and Merle for not chopping firewood, then took their blankets as punishment so that he could stay warm through the night. What self respecting man makes his six year old chop firewood? William Dixon, that's who. And while he'd slept content in bed beside his shivering wife, Merle and Daryl had curled together for warmth. Both had been bundled in their winter coats–and being Georgia, they weren't all that thick–in the hopes of fighting the chill that blasted through the cracked windows.

While the winters were gradually getting worse, he'd never forget that night, if only because of the welts that had seared pain across his back. That had been the most warmth he'd been able to get, although it also meant he wasn't able to sleep. He shifted uncomfortably, easily remembering the pain due to the various scars that still littered the majority of his body.

As much as he hated thinking about it, he'd allowed himself to get lost in the darkest part of his life. He could always remember Merle being the only thing that got him through it, though. His brother. The guy had been a bit of a savior to him more times than he really cared to remember. So many times Merle had taken the fall, just to keep his little brother from getting the shit kicked out of him by their alcoholic father. Daryl sighed and frowned darkly as he thought of Merle, then pushed it away as Beth snuggled into his side.

Instead of the frown that had been there only moments before a quick grin tugged on his lips as he pulled his fingers back through her hair. Daryl wasn't sure why, but it was so much simpler to not think about all of the shit in his past when the girl laid next to him like this. He'd gotten into a bit of a habit of combing through the soft blonde locks as she slept and admittedly this was a lot simpler to do when it was clean. Just as he'd done so many times before, Daryl leaned over and pressed a kiss to the top of her head as she slept. Or…well…he'd thought she'd been sleeping.

No sooner had he begun to pull away than the petite blonde shifted, pulling back enough that her wide blue eyes landed on his face, shock coloring her expression. Almost instantly he felt his cheeks flare red. "What was that for?" the girl asked in a soft voice.

"What was what for?" he countered, hoping to feign innocence.

"You…didn't you…"

"What?" His brows furrowed up slightly, hoping that he was playing it off, hoping that she would think she'd imagined it if he just acted like he had no idea what she was talking about. The look in her eyes told him that she wasn't falling for it…not by a long shot. Did he expect her response? No. Normally, Beth would either fall for whatever crap he spit at her or she would give up without saying anything. It was often enough that Daryl would say something or do something and then never explain it. She'd ask a couple of times, then let it go. Tonight didn't seem to be the night that she would keep up her normal antics.

Daryl nearly flinched back as her hand gently came to a rest on his cheek and before he could react in any way she moved just enough on the bed to push herself closer to him. In the blink of an eye her lips collided with his, holding onto the kiss while Daryl remained motionless out of…what…fear? worry? anxiety? He wasn't really sure why he laid still for so long.

Just as Beth began to think she'd been completely wrong, which meant she was allowing her crush on Daryl to go way too far, Daryl's lips began moving with her own. Hesitantly his fingers combed back through her hair once again.

It'd been so long since he'd had any kind of romantic touch and even longer since he'd had even the smallest of intimate moments like this one that he wasn't able to stop his heart from pounding madly, the blood rushing past his ears nearly killed every other sound. Besides, he really did like Beth. She gave him hope that maybe there was something better out there than what he allowed himself to think. It wasn't hard to give up, to lose hope and to believe all was lost. Beth was a lot stronger than he was; of course he wasn't going to admit to that. While he allowed himself to give up she constantly held on and believed that someday things would turn out for the better. She was the light at the end of a very dark tunnel, the one that had kept him going…even if he hadn't realized what it was.

Without warning the girl pushed herself higher on the bed, which drew her even closer to him as she gripped lightly at the back of his neck to kiss him harder. Before she even realized what was happening his fingers had tangled roughly into her hair, the kiss changing rapidly from 'testing new waters' to nothing short of desire and lust. The arm he'd had snaked around her waist tightened its grip to pull her slender frame flush against his own as she wrapped both of her own around his neck in order to keep them close together.

As he nipped at her lower lip her slender fingers gripped his hair. Neither seemed to be able to breathe properly as their lips and tongues worked in unison with one another. It was easy enough for each of them to get lost in the other, but the moan that slipped from her lips–while completely involuntary– brought Daryl back to reality long enough for him to pull back, panting for air. His dark eyes were wild as they danced over her pale face and it took every ounce of willpower not to dive back in. Beth blushed softly as she stared back at him with a hint of a smile lingering around her swollen lips.

"Sorry," she murmured, still smirking faintly.

Instantly, the blissful feeling began to melt away. "For what?" he asked in return, thinking he'd done something wrong.

"I…I'm not really sure," she replied and chewed lightly at her lower lip. "Was that…okay? I mean…"

"Beth…" he hesitated and mentally kicked himself for it as she began to pull away. Daryl almost let it happen, but then realized he couldn't allow it. He carefully tightened his grip on her, dark eyes zoned in on her pretty face while pulling her closer. "It's jus' that you're, you're almost half my age," he stated, almost bewildered. Daryl could understand easily enough how he had fallen for her. She was something sturdy to hold onto, she was warmth and light while he was nothing but a dark and twisted mess.

A part of him was worried that the darker parts of him would taint her somehow. She was pure enough that he could do it. The simple thought actually threatened to crush him.

In the diminishing light he barely caught sight of her eyes rolling in that way that told him something he'd said had irritated her. "It's the apocalypse and you're worried about my age?" she stated bluntly.

"Well…yeah, I mean, ain't you?"

"No." She said the word with a silent laugh falling from her lips at the same time. "Besides, I'm nineteen," she reminded him with an almost cocky sort of smirk playing around the corners of her mouth.

Daryl felt his eyes narrow at the sight, then brushed it off quickly as he replied with, "I got twelve years on you."

"And?" she replied indignantly.

"An' it's wrong."

"Says who?" she asked, pausing long enough for him to simply stare at her. "There's no one here to tell me that I can't like you. There's no one here to say you couldn't like me, too. How is it so wrong?" Her question brought him up short. He frowned slightly when he glanced away from her face. Truth be told, there wasn't really anything wrong about it, Daryl just had a hard time copping to emotion. "You're seriously worried about my age?" she asked now to regain his attention.

After letting out a sigh Daryl shook his head slightly. "No," he replied without looking at her.

"Then what?" she demanded in a gentler voice.

Slowly, he allowed his attention to settle back onto her face as she stared up at him expectantly. Daryl exhaled silently and rolled his eyes while shrugging quickly. "Iunno."

"Bullshit," she countered while staring hard at him.

"What you mean, 'bullshit'?" he asked, fighting the grin that tried to break through when she'd cursed. He wasn't sure why, but it was hilarious to him whenever she did it.

A slight smirk tugged on her lips as she reached out a hand to gently touch the tip of his cold nose. "I've spent six months alone with you. When you lie, your nostrils flare." Of course, Beth knew she was just making something up, but she wanted answers from him. And this time she wouldn't give up until she'd gotten them.

Daryl sighed and scanned the room behind her to avoid actually looking at her for a few moments longer. When he couldn't avoid it anymore, only for the fact that he could feel her eyes boring into him, he turned his gaze back onto her pale face. "I don't know, Beth, it's…" Another sigh ripped past his lips as he struggled for the words. It wasn't all that easy for him to talk about things like this, even with her, even when he actually wanted to. His past kept him from wanting to get too close to anyone, or let anyone else get close to him.

"Look, I like you…okay? I have for…a long time," the girl spoke up, snapping his focus back onto her. Daryl wasn't able to hide his skepticism. It was just a part of who he was, who he'd been for a very long time but the longer he stared at her, the more he realized she wasn't saying it just to get something out of him. The longer he stared the more he realized he wanted to let her in. To knock down some of the wall he'd started building when he was a kid.

A faint smile began forming as he reached a hand up to knock a strand of hair away from her face and behind her ear. "I like you too…" he finally responded.

Daryl had to admit that the way her face lit up at the words was almost breathtaking. She seemed genuinely happy at his honesty. Even though he'd felt himself falling two months ago there was no way in hell he'd have been able to say it to her before now. Not without her poking and prodding.

Daryl Dixon: fierce crossbow wielding bad ass redneck, shy around girls.

Who would have actually pegged him as a shy guy? Not many people; most just saw him as the strong silent type, the mysterious guy who would either save your ass or kill you. Most of the time he just didn't feel like saying anything because it wasn't worth wasting the energy to form words, not because he was trying to be mysterious, besides there were some things that just weren't other people's business. But truth be told, he'd always been shy around the opposite gender…or at least the ones he was attracted to. Sure, he could carry on a conversation, he could spend time with them or be physically close but when it came to admitting things, especially things about feelings? Well, he already had enough issues when it came to dealing with emotion, that was just something else to add to it all.

A thin finger tapped at his cheek, drawing him back from his thoughts and into reality. Reality was Beth staring at him expectantly with both brows raised on her pale face. "Did you even hear me?" she asked incredulously.

"..Sorry..." he murmured in response.

Beth laughed quietly and shook her head. "I asked how long you've been doing that."

"Doin' what?" he responded in confusion, his brows pulling together.

"Kissing the top of my head while I slept."

"Oh…that." Daryl frowned, having already forgotten how their searing kiss started. "Couple'a weeks, I guess." He shrugged quickly, unable to place an actual time frame. Thankfully, the sun had set enough that the girl didn't notice the blush on his cheeks in the fading light. Unfortunately for him, she could still feel his skin heat up and didn't need to physically see it..

"Daryl…I…" she hesitated, chewing on her lower lip again.

"What?"

Instead of a verbal response she slowly leaned in closer, and this time when her lips pressed against his, Daryl didn't freeze up. His hold on her tightened to draw her thin frame closer as he kissed her back slowly. The temperature in the room seemed to raise ten degrees as their kiss gradually shifted from soft butterfly kisses to hot, open mouthed kisses.

It was simple to forget their previous conversation, to forget the chilly air around them and the steadily darkening room. Everything else was easy to forget as his lips molded against hers. How could everything melt away so perfectly? Every worry, every fear, every doubt in his mind was gone. Daryl was so lost in their moment that he had completely forgotten about every living soul except her and him. He'd forgotten everything except the taste of her lips and just how smooth her skin was. When her fingers gripped into his hair Daryl's hand shifted from her cheek and around to the back of her neck, carefully hooking into her soft hair to pull her closer, kissing her harder.

It wasn't until he felt lightheaded that Daryl realized he'd stopped breathing. Their fiery kiss had consumed him so greatly that the most basic of instincts had been halted. He slowly broke away from her lips with a quiet gasp of air, though he refused to break contact with her, refused to allow space to come between them. Not yet, not right now. He needed to be close to her. Daryl kept his eyes closed as his forehead rested gently against hers as he tried to catch his breath, a faint smirk lingering around the corners of his mouth.

He wanted to say something, but honestly couldn't come up with anything…not right away. His head was still swimming from their kiss. Daryl was barely aware of how to regain his breath, figuring out coherent speech wasn't high on his list just yet. He breathed a laugh as he tried and failed twice to say something to her. In the end he gave up and settled for just holding onto her for as long as he possibly could. But being so close made him want that contact again. He wanted to feel that electricity, that jolt of life to himself.

Just as he leaned in to kiss her again he heard a slam from downstairs. Both froze in place; lips only inches apart, fingers tangled into each others hair, eyes locked against each others. It was silent just long enough for Beth to find her voice. "What was that?" she whispered almost silently.

Daryl was assuming that the sound was man-made because he hadn't heard a walker, although their heavy breathing and the blood rushing past his ears could easily have masked the moaning and groaning of one of the dead. "I don't know," he replied in a lower whisper. Several moments passed before it sounded again, like someone or something slamming bodily to the floor.

In a flash Daryl had extracted himself from Beth's arms and was pulling on his jacket. "Don't move," he whispered before crossing the room in silence to snatch up his crossbow from the floor. Daryl wished like hell he could have put his boots on as the cold floorboard made his toes freeze through his socks, but the sound would have given them away and if it weren't a walker he didn't want to chance that. Only once since they'd parted ways with the prison group had they come across another human being. A thin old man that made him think of Dale who wasn't very far from his own death. Admittedly, Daryl was a little wary of other people coming around them, especially after everything the Governor had pulled.

He'd just gotten to the landing at the top of the stairs when he heard voices on the level below. _When did they get close?_ he wondered while dipping back behind the wall to avoid being seen so that he could keep listening to the voices from below.

"First house we've come across in almost a week that looks pretty solid," a deep baritone stated, barely above a whisper. The low tone had bounced easily off the walls and up the stairs to him or perhaps they were closer to the stairs than he had originally figured.

"Close that damn window, Chris," another low pitched voice ordered.

"If we wouldn't attract the biters I'd say let's burn some'a them books in that fireplace," another voice interjected. "Jeff, think we could get away with it? Ain't seen one'a the dead in at least a couple miles."

The one who'd barked orders before answered, "Doubtful. Smell of the smoke'll draw the bastards right to us."

In all, Daryl counted three separate voices, but at least five sets of heavy footsteps traipsing across the wooden floorboards below; there was also a near silent sound he didn't recognize immediately mixed into the heavy clomping of boots and the hushed voices. New people weren't something that Daryl took to real easily. After the dead started walking again so many people in this world turned…vile. They'd just as soon kill you for a candy bar as they would look at you. And then there were those who had been without female companions for a lot longer than the start of the apocalypse. Those were the kind of people that worried him, especially with the petite blonde tucked under the covers in the next room.

As quietly as he could Daryl crept back to the bedroom and half-closed the door behind him. He crept toward their weapons under the window and grabbed his hunting knife as Beth whispered, "What's going on?" in a worried voice.

"There's people downstairs," he responded almost silently as he knelt against the bed above her head.

"Do…do you think they could be…" her voice trailed off, knowing he would understand.

Quickly, Daryl shook his head in response, "I doubt they're from the prison. They all sound too big and I don't remember a Jeff or a Chris, you?" Beth shook her head quickly and frowned, slipping herself out from under the blankets into the cold night air. "Take the blanket and get in the closet," Daryl commanded causing her to look offended.

"I can take care of myself, Daryl."

"I know that…just…humor me?" he begged, though his plea fell on deaf ears as she quickly and silently crept across the floor and snatched up the switchblade and her hatchet from under the window. Daryl should have known better than to insinuate she couldn't handle herself, even if it was unintentional. Now she would be determined to show him up.

"What's the plan?" she asked in a whisper while moving to stand beside him.

The question brought a hint of a frown to his lips. Honestly, he hadn't really had one other than to determine just how many there were and if he and Beth could make a quick, silent getaway. Or if they would have to hole up in the closet for the night. He briefly thought of scouring the room for a marker or something and writing on the outside of the door that there were dead in the room, but there was always the chance that the guys downstairs would find it a challenge to take out whatever dead there were.

"Don't get killed," he finally responded, as if that were the easiest thing in the world. Beth nodded sharply and confidently.

It was with a sigh that he slipped back into the hallway, listening to the voices from below. Daryl made it roughly four feet out of the door when he heard the strangled cry behind him and whirled around to see the petite blonde clutched to the side of a much larger male. The guy's biceps were nearly the size of Beth's head…and his right arm was hooked around her neck. Daryl knew that it would only take the slightest of movements and the large male could snap her neck as easily as breaking a twig in two.

–

**Cliffhanger. I'm sorry folks!**


	4. This Sorrowful Life

**Disclaimer: Do not own ****_The Walking Dead_**** or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I know I left the last chapter on a bit of a cliffhanger, I do apologize but I assumed it was better to end it there and post it up on a cliffhanger than to continue writing while half asleep. That wouldn't have been good for the story. Admittedly this will be my last chapter for a couple of days, perhaps a week, because I do need to work on my other stories. Though, this one has gotten more reviews and followers than any of my others so far. I do thank you for that!**

–

Pale blue orbs focused on the redneck–crossbow aimed for the other males head–who was just out of her reach as she held tight to the hatchet in her right hand. Beth silently shifted the switchblade to her rear pocket in the hopes that her captor wouldn't notice. Thankfully, he hadn't appeared to yet as his gaze was locked on Daryl whose gaze darted between her face and the male who held her. The man's grip around her was loose enough that she could breathe but not so much that she could easily get away.

With the thought that maybe she could duck out of his grasp if she moved quickly enough Beth allowed herself to fall limp and actually managed to get the majority of her head from under his arm before his other hand tangled quickly in her blonde hair and yanked her back into position with a yelp. Now the man was holding tightly enough that it was a little harder to breathe.

"Let 'er go." Daryl demanded quietly, staring down the sight of the crossbow at the much larger man.

"It was easy enough to get the drop on you two," the man stated in a deep voice that resonated in Beth's ears. Carefully, she angled her gaze upward to get a better view of the man. His skin was paled in the moonlight that streamed through the board covered hallway window, but she could tell that it had a natural mocha coloring. His hair was dark, either a deep brown or possibly black, it was curly and stuck close to his head. She couldn't tell exactly what color his eyes were in the darkness, but they looked as if they were dark as well.

The most defining thing she could see about this guy was the sheer size of him. While she stood at a measly five foot four this guy easily towered over her and, by the look of it, Daryl as well. Beth was imagining the guy stood closer to six and a half feet. She took all of this in in a matter of seconds as the large male spoke again, once more his deep voice seemed to stick in her head. "All the whisperin' back an' forth, neither one'a ya heard me comin' up the stairs." The faint accent in his voice made her think of Texas, but she wasn't sure.

"Just.. let me go, we don't want any trouble." Beth said in a soft voice, shifting her gaze back toward Daryl.

As scared as the redneck felt, he didn't allow it to show through. Daryl had become good at hiding his emotions over the last.. well, pretty much his whole life and now all that acting and fronting was paying off. "I'm'a count to three and if you ain't let 'er go I'll put an arrow right between your eyes." He stated without allowing his gaze to stray toward the blonde.

"Everything okay up there, Matt?" A voice called from below causing Daryl to take a step further back into the shadows away from the stairwell.

"Everythin's peachy," the large man named Matt called back. "You don't want no trouble, huh?" He asked as his gaze turned back toward Beth, then upwards toward Daryl.

"Who're you talkin' to?" The voice called up again.

"Found a couple'a survivors." Matt stated, his gaze shifting toward the stairs again before looking toward the crossbow aimed at his skull. "Where's the rest of your group?" He asked now, keeping his hold on Beth. The male didn't seem phased at all by the loaded crossbow aimed at his head, or the redneck holding onto it. Daryl had to wonder if the guy was just brave or really stupid. He was hoping for the latter but was, sadly, betting on the former.

"We got separated from them half a year back." Beth stated, raising her free hand to pull lightly at the male's arm since he was choking her. It was getting difficult to breathe with his iron grip around her. She was forming a plan to get her, at the very least, out of his hold. Unfortunately the plan could back fire very easily and bring the whole group from downstairs on she and Daryl.

"Just the two of you?"

"Let 'er go." Daryl stated the words slowly and deliberately at the same time Beth nodded.

To his surprise the large male released the blonde, who stumbled once and then ran across the hall to tuck her arms around his waist. Beth let out a shaking breath, glad to be near him once again. She felt safe with Daryl, had for the last six months and it was just so much better at his side.

"You're not one'a them, then?" Matt asked causing Beth and Daryl to look at one another in confusion before back to the male. Daryl still hadn't lowered the crossbow, if only out of paranoia, and Beth couldn't find the will to be irritated about it.

"One of who?" Daryl asked in return as he hefted the weapon with one hand, the other quickly winding around Beth, who relaxed minutely against him.

"Come on, Jeff can explain it better." The large male stated before turning to lumber down the stairs.

As soon as he was out of sight Beth felt Daryl lower the crossbow and wrap both arms securely around her shivering frame.

"You okay?" He asked as he pulled back a little to look down at her.

Beth nodded and forced a smile to her lips as she turned her attention up toward his face. His hand rose to briefly cup her cheek before dropping to grasp her hand. Without a word he pulled the girl down the stairs while murmuring, "hold onto that hatchet, girl." His plan was to get to the bottom of it, especially why the man named Matt thought it was a bright idea to grab a hold of her. At the base of the stairs Daryl raised the crossbow again, though wasn't sure who to point it at so aimed it toward the ceiling for quick use.

Beth tightened her grip on the wooden handle as they descended the stairs into the cooler ground floor. Her pale eyes quickly took in the two men standing there and the three darting around the house in search of anything and everything that could be useful. Gripping harder to Daryl's hand Beth allowed herself to sink more toward invisibility by shifting closer to his side. Daryl obviously didn't mind this as he took in the larger men gathered. Only one was closer to his size, the rest reminded him of Tyreese.. or bigger. If it came to a fight he knew that they would lose, quickly at that.

Neither of them said a word as they waited for this 'Jeff' to step up and explain things. It seemed to take forever but finally, one of the larger men spoke up after having torn his attention away from Matt. "Matt says you guys are separated from your group?" Beth nodded in response, but kept silent for the time being. "Where did you get separated?" He asked now. The girl quickly took note of him, much like she had Matt upstairs. He was broad-shouldered and seemed to take up a lot of space, pale skin, a mess of blonde hair and pale eyes that seemed to glow in the moonlight. While his voice was a definite bass, it was slightly more pleasant than his comrades.

"We were at a prison and the walkers got through our gates. Our group scattered when the walkers overwhelmed us." Beth stated from her place half-hidden behind Daryl.

"You ain't joined up with another group since?" He asked now.

Beth shook her head hard and opened her mouth to speak, but Daryl beat her to it. "Look, we ain't seen nobody but you guys in the last four months. We don't want no trouble, but we was here first." He stated roughly.

The blonde shot a glance up at him, noticing the vein on his neck was throbbing harder than normal. He was trying to act brave, to act tough and strong, but Beth could tell–if only because of that pulsing vein–that he was worried. Her gaze snapped toward the large men as they chuckled.

"I like him," one guy murmured, "he's brave."

"Where're you camped at?" Jeff asked now.

"Wherever we want." Daryl stated with bravado.

"Well, we got a base camp about three days walk from here, y'all are welcome to come join us." Matt spoke up.

Beth tugged at Daryl's arm to get his attention, then pulled him back toward the stairs to whisper, "what if the others are there?"

Daryl didn't like the idea of believing in that one, but the plea in Beth's voice made him want to at least check it out. At the same time there was just something about the guy beside Jeff that put him on edge. Gripping her pale hand Daryl flashed a quick smile that faded in the blink of an eye before he turned back to the others. "We'd rather tough it alone.." he remarked and ignored the silent scoff from Beth, "but we was wonderin' if maybe some'a the people from our group might be at your camp."

"Well, depends, got any names?" The guy beside Jeff stated. Beth noted that his voice was even less pleasant than Matt's. While he seemed attractive enough, there was something unsettling about the way he watched the two of them, particularly her.

"Umm, Maggie? Glenn?" Beth finally spoke up, then chewed at her lip. "Maggie would be tall with brown hair, Glenn a little shorter, Asian?" The men exchanged glances before shaking their heads lightly. Beth pushed passed the weight that filled her heart. "Rick, Carl or Judith? Rick's about 30 with dark hair, Carl's-"

"Hey, ain't that new guy named Carl?" The thinner man in the background voiced and instantly Beth felt a little lighter as she glanced up at Daryl who stood stoically silent. "He thin, dark hair, about 20?"

The girl deflated with a shake of her head. "No, he's only about 15. Judith is just a baby.." Beth continued. Once more they shook their heads causing the blonde to sigh. "Carol? She's got gray hair, in her 30's? Tyreese, dark skin, about your size, he'd probably be with his sister Sasha?" Again, the men exchanged a quick glance and shook their heads.

"Michonne. She's black, late 20's? Carries around a ninja sword." Daryl chimed in.

"Nah, name don't sound familiar. We got a girl named Carol, but she couldn't be more'n 16. Only a couple little ones in the camp, none named Judith. I ain't seen an Asian fellow in.. well, probably since the start of all this. Sorry, folks." Jeff stated, actually looking apologetic.

Daryl regained his defensive position in front of Beth as he squared his shoulders again. "Well, look, we're real glad for the offer an' everything, but we-"

"You were here first, we heard ya." Jeff stated and offered a quick smile, "but if it's all the same it's freezing out there and we need a place to sleep."

Beth glanced around a moment before looking up toward Daryl as he chanced a half glance back at her, she nodded silently and held tightly to his hand. "Don't touch nothin' in that cupboard, it's ours, don't touch none of our stuff an' be out when the sun comes up." Daryl stated as he glanced back toward the group of men.

"Bunker down here men, sleep in shifts, leave the man and his girl alone," Jeff stated while turning toward his group. "Good?" He asked, turning back toward them.

Daryl nodded lightly, then remembered what Matt had asked about 'one of them' upstairs and frowned. "You're guy over there, mentioned somethin' about 'one of them'."

Jeff flashed Matt a quick look before turning back to Daryl. "Yeah, we've been havin' some trouble with a group not too far off from our camp. They keep tryin' to take our people, like it's gonna save 'em. Seem to think that they know how to run things better'n we do."

He frowned darkly, thinking of the Governor and Rick's little turf war that ended violently and with probably more dead on either side than anyone would have wanted. Even if the idea of getting into a large group for protection sounded remotely appealing, the thought of jumping in in the middle of war made him apprehensive enough to want nothing to do with it.

"Ain't run into any of them, huh?" Jeff asked now.

Without a word Daryl shook his head lightly before taking a step backward, nudging Beth along. She glanced around again before moving up the stairs, pulling his hand to hurry him along. Daryl, unfortunately, moved a little slower as he wanted to make sure none of the men followed them.

Falling asleep wasn't going to be easy tonight, not with five burly men camping out downstairs, but Beth was determined to at least get an hour in. As soon as she'd pulled Daryl through the doorway and closed it tightly, her slender fingers fumbled with the lock and quickly found it was broken. She rolled her eyes and sighed deeply, then turned toward the taller male. Before she had the chance to react Daryl's arms were around her, hugging her slender frame to his chest.

He released a worried breath as he held onto her, his composure from downstairs slipping just enough that the girl wrapped her arms tightly around him in return. She'd been afraid of what could happen, yes, but she'd never really put any thought into his being afraid. After all, Beth still firmly believed that Daryl would be the one standing at the end of all this. He'd be the one who would conquer this new world of theirs. Her eyes closed as she leaned against his chest, holding onto him for a few moments.

As she pulled back a content sort of smile played on her lips. "Let's get warm?" She suggested and slipped slowly out of his grip.

Daryl nodded and followed her to the bed. Where Beth had previously laid closest to the door–since she got up more often to go to the bathroom–Daryl scooted her aside to put himself closer to the door. She didn't bother to ask why, nor did she bother to try talking him out of it. Truthfully, she was grateful for it since the guys downstairs did worry her a little.

Beth had hope for humanity, she had hope that there were still good people in the world and that things could get better. That didn't mean that she had faith in everyone. No, she wasn't naive enough to believe that everyone could be good, Beth knew that there were some bad people out there. If it weren't for the fact that almost every single one of those men could bench press Daryl without breaking a sweat she probably wouldn't have worried too much.

–

It was a long night. Between listening to the males voices from below and Daryl moving every couple of minutes to keep himself awake Beth wasn't able to sleep. It was with glee that the first morning rays of sun began to seep into the sky. The voices had quieted about two hours or so ago and Beth assumed they'd fallen asleep, since no sound had alerted them that the men had slipped outside.

All through the night Daryl's arms stayed wrapped around her slender frame while she clung to his side. Her fingers gently caressed his cheek or on occasion combed through his hair. Since she didn't say anything Beth figured that was the best way to let him know she was still awake. When a yawn stretched her lips the girl finally shifted enough to look up at him by carefully resting her chin on his chest.

A quick smile tugged the right side of his mouth up before he sighed and peered over at the door. "Think we ought'a wake 'em up and kick 'em out?" He asked in a hushed tone.

"I think we should try to quietly pack up and leave." Beth responded without pulling her gaze away from his face.

"We should'a left yesterday." He countered while a hand rose to brush back through her blonde locks, gently tugging at the ends.

"Think they're as honest as they seem?"

"I think the world went to shit a long time ago and there ain't many people in it you can trust anymore." He replied as his dark blue eyes slowly turned back onto her.

The girl nodded faintly, careful not to dig her chin into his chest. "On the other side of that, there's a lot of them and they could have easily killed us or.. worse." She murmured, still hoping to see the lighter side of it all. Beth knew that in the world they lived in some things were considerably worse than death.

Daryl nodded but kept his comment to himself which caused her to wonder if he'd been thinking of the same things she had. If so, it would only serve to increase her paranoia. "Think we can make it out of here without them noticing?" She asked in a whisper. The idea of being followed only worried her more.

"Maybe, depends where they are down there." He voiced with a faint sigh. "Still got that pack you found?"

Beth nodded quickly, sitting up just enough to point across the room and behind the door. The day they'd arrived she had found a backpack. It was large enough to toss some clothes and food in and still have enough room for weapons or medicine or anything else they might come across. Of course, she'd found another pack about four or five months back that they'd been using for food and a change of clothes apiece as well as having strapped her flannel blanket onto it when it wasn't in use. This new pack would help a lot.

Daryl nodded slightly before shifting in the bed. "Get ready to go. Bundle up if you can." He stated while climbing out from under the covers into the icy morning air. "I'm gonna go down and get the food from the cabinet, I'll be back in a f-"

"Just let them have it." Beth interjected, her eyes locked onto his face. "We've got enough."

"We've got two cans of applesauce and some stale cereal.. how is that enough?"

"It'll get us through to the next house. Please, Daryl, I don't think we should go down there until we're ready to leave."

He sighed and nodded softly before lacing his boots up tight, the girl quickly swung her legs over the side of the bed to follow suit. As soon as her boots were laced Beth began pulling on an extra layer of clothing, tossing him one of the sweaters she'd found along the way. It was bland and brown but it would fit him and help to keep him warm and that was all that really mattered. While he stuffed their bags with their freshly washed clothes–having washed them in the melted snow water the day they'd arrived–she rolled up one of the comforters as tightly as she could, then used her knife to cut a t-shirt into thick strips so that she could fasten it around the blanket before tying it to the backpack.

It didn't seem to take very long to get all of their gear on or in place before both were standing in front of the bedroom door. Daryl held tightly to his crossbow while Beth held onto the hatchet and after he took in a breath he swung the door open. Both move silently out into the hall and down the stairs to find the five men from the night before sleeping in various locations around the living room and dining room.

Now that Beth looked at most of them, they seemed even more frightening than they had in the dark. One appeared to be missing his arm, one was missing a hand–which made her think of Merle–and all of them were more scarred up than she would have figured they should be.

Normally, they would have moved the china cabinet and walked out the back door, but it would make too much noise and if they intended on a stealthy exit there was no way to get out the back without waking the men. The front door had been nailed shut long before they'd shown up, probably in some manner of protection. They could go through any of the windows, but that would mean-with most of them-a considerable drop to the ground. Save for the two that connected to the front porch and the one off the kitchen that held the rear deck. The kitchen seemed like the more logical choice until Beth remembered that they'd found out it didn't open. Someone had painted it shut at some point and now it was stuck. It would take far too long to try and pry it open.

Daryl obviously hadn't needed the reminder as he slowly advanced into the living room toward the window farthest from the sleeping men. He nodded for her to follow him and while he kept watch Beth opened the window. Almost as soon as it was opened she nearly allowed it to slam shut once more with a gasp. Daryl whirled on his heel and followed her gaze to the four walkers on the porch. Each of which was missing the lower half of their jaws, but their outstretched hands quickly reached out toward the window as the smell of flesh floated out.

"I wouldn't go out that way if I were you." A voice sounded behind them, prompting both to twist quickly. Jeff stood only a few feet away with a faint smirk playing around the edge of his mouth. Beth was easily reminded of a cat that was going to attempt playing with a mouse before ripping it apart piece by piece. A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold crept up her spine.

–

**Another cliffhanger. I'm sorry folks! **


	5. Inmates

**Disclaimer: Do not own ****_The Walking Dead_**** or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: Yes, I know the last chapter ended on a cliffhanger. I have no apologies. Some of you may have noticed that the chapter names are ****_Walking Dead_**** episode names. This holds no real significance other than me thinking that the names work for the chapters. Also, I know I frequently shift the POV per chapter, sometimes I see things better from Daryl's point-of-view and others I see it better from Beth's.**

–

Daryl whirled around to face Jeff, not having realized who'd spoken until he'd turned. All of their voices were the same, that deep bass sound that reverberated in his skull. His eyes narrowed slightly at the look on the man's face. He was scarily reminded of a wolf that was about to pounce on an innocent deer. Without putting thought behind the action he shifted to block Beth from view as his dark blue orbs danced over Jeff's face. "Thought I told y'all to be clear of here by mornin'." He stated as a distraction.

"Considerin' my men have been on the move for two days, we overslept. Besides, looks like you're clearin' out." Jeff stated, glancing briefly to Beth before back to the more defensive one.

"Figured it was time for us to move on." Daryl voiced in a lower tone.

"Not sure that it's time for you folks to be movin' on just yet. It's still earlier, we could have breakfast or something." The guy said but all Daryl heard was 'you're stuck here'. The words didn't sit well with him.

"Ain't none of your business what we do." Daryl stepped sideways, pushing Beth carefully back toward the stairs. His plan was to at least keep her out of anyone's reach until they could get somewhere a little bit safer. Sure, she was a lot tougher now than she had been six months ago, but the girl still needed protecting. Whether she would admit to it or not.

"Now, look here, stranger. We were bein' kind in our offer to come and join our camp. We need the bodies."

He felt a shiver run down his spine at the words, having a bad feeling about the way they'd sounded. There was an sense of foreboding about the words that made his skin crawl. Beth obviously caught on that something bad was about to go down as she pulled him back again. Either she was just being naive or she wanted to keep the guy talking, as she asked, "What for?". The girl gently tugged on Daryl's shirt to drag him back another step while watching Jeff.

"Well, we need men to get food, protect the women and children and go out on searches for other survivors. And we need women to give us more children. Gotta keep the world goin' somehow, don't we?"

This time, Daryl felt the shiver come from the girl as she pulled a little harder on him to get him back to the stairs. "So what? You keep 'em prisoner?" He asked in the hopes of keeping the man distracted as the two made to move back up the stairs. The plan was to get upstairs, barricade themselves into their room and hopefully make a break through one of the windows.

His gaze yanked away from Jeff to scope out the rest of the room in order to give him a sense of where each of the other four were. Matt and the thin man were leaning against the wall watching them with amusement. Another was still sacked out on the dining room table and the fifth was missing. He'd been there moments before and Daryl quickly contemplated the likelihood that the large male had vanished upstairs. Realizing that it was all too likely, he began trying to figure out an alternate escape while taking another step backward.

"Until they're more compliant, yes. Some survivors don't seem to realize that there's still good life out there. Safe life. A life where your children can grow up without worrying about the biters. Food and good company." The man said passionately. Every bit of him believed this and it actually made Daryl nauseous.

"We've heard all this before." Daryl snapped back, thinking of the Governor and all the trouble that it had brought down on them. He gripped harder at the crossbow, quickly trying to figure out their chances of taking on the other four men if he raised that bow and took the guy out. He also had to figure in that he didn't have many bolts left, nor were any of them in the best condition.

"Then you'll know a better life is out there."

"No, it ain't. There ain't no better life no more. This is what we got, walkers around every fuckin' corner, psychos who kidnap people and rape little girls." He quipped in irritation. Instead of leading them upstairs, Beth pulled them through the kitchen. The further away they moved the more the four men followed. Where one-armed-Willie vanished to they weren't sure, but they assumed up the stairs in the hopes of ambushing them.

"We don't rape anyone. Everyone who comes into our camp is given a choice."

"What choice is that? Stay or die?" He huffed, feeling his irritation truly kicking in now. Holding the crossbow in one hand, the other reached back to hold onto Beth's arm as she drug them backward.

"No. The choice of a better life or to keep living on the run, scared of what could happen and when."

"Fine. We choose to keep livin' on the run." Daryl snapped.

Jeff laughed, and the others soon followed, as if he'd just told the best joke in the world. The large male had actually grabbed his stomach as he guffawed loudly. "You don't get that choice til we get there, boy."

He shook his head as Beth led them backward. "It's still kidnappin'." He stated boldly.

"Hardly. We are trying to keep our species going when the world is trying to wipe us out."

"And every one'a them women? They got a choice?"

"In what?"

"In who's kid they're carryin'?"

The silence of the group spoke volumes and Daryl swallowed hard as Beth gave a final tug to pull them into what had once been a den with a large flat screen television and several game consoles along one wall, a sectional surrounding it and a wall shelf stocked with books. "We're not going with you!" Beth barked, pushing at the arm Daryl was holding the crossbow in. He didn't need any further prompting than that and quickly raised the weapon, firing off the one shot in it. As usual, his aim was true and it struck Jeff between the eyes.

The large man stumbled once and gripped at the wall before dropping heavily to the floor. Daryl and Beth didn't stick around long enough to watch the others try to climb around the large man before slamming the door and grabbing a piece of the sectional to press against the door. "Go, the window." Daryl demanded to the girl as he worked on shoving more against the door to form a barricade.

The blonde ran toward one of the two windows in the room and wretched it open. "Come on!" She called to Daryl as she pulled her pack off. Just as she set it on the window sill to shove it out a figure appeared around the corner of the house. "Daryl!" Just as quickly as she'd opened the window Beth slammed it shut. "They're out there!"

"How'd they get passed the walkers on the porch?" He asked and stepped away from the door. His dark eyes danced over the yard, spotting two of the remaining four men outside.

"Maybe the walkers are theirs?" Beth suggested, panting quietly, "like Michonne had?"

"Maybe.. but she took their arms, too."

"Keep the arms as a thrill factor?" Of course, she was just spewing ideas, but it sounded the most logical of anything else that had coursed through her mind. "What do we do, now?" She asked with a glance toward the now blockaded door and back to the window.

Daryl knew that no matter which way they went there was a potential fight on their hands and he didn't know how what kind of heat these guys were packing. No one was stupid enough to fire off a gun these days but no one said that these guys were intelligent, either. They could chance going back out the door, the problem with that was that it meant not only unblocking it but worrying about the two from outside coming back in.

They could go outside, but then there was the worry of the guys from inside catching up to them. Daryl's dark eyes danced briefly around the room before he heard a soft whoosh on the other side of the door that locked him up. "What was that?" Beth asked before he'd had time to process it.

A laugh echoed in the hall beyond the door causing Daryl's brows to furrow in confusion. "I.. don't know." He responded while taking a step closer to the door. The noise from the hall had all but vanished, save for the soft sound that he couldn't quite place. Something was familiar about it, like a memory attempting to surface from the back of his mind, though he couldn't figure out what.

He took another step toward the door before a voice from outside stopped him short. "You'll come out. One way or the other." The now familiar voice of Matt called. Daryl had to wonder, if only momentarily, whether the others were mute.

"Daryl, what's going on?" Beth asked, hardly concealing her panic.

Instead of answering her, Daryl began pushing aside the things blocking the door. He'd just begun pulling at the last piece of sectional when the familiarity of the sound hit him like a tidal wave. "They set the house on fire," he whispered.

"What?" Beth asked, stepping closer.

"They set the house on fire!" Daryl said again, louder this time. "There's only one way out of here." His gaze darted to the two windows, the only means of escape and it was right into the arms of the group of burly men.

Beth felt panic setting in as she stared at Daryl. "They.. WHY!?"

"To get us outta the house, their way."

"Daryl, we can't go there. We.. You heard what he-"

"I know what he said, Beth!" Daryl shouted over her, barely hiding his irritation. He wasn't angry at her, merely the circumstance. He didn't like feeling trapped or caged. He hated feeling stuck. He especially hated feeling bullied, it reminded him too much of his father.

She recoiled as if he'd struck her, chewing lightly on her lip. Without apologizing–that could come later–Daryl spoke up. "Knock an arrow kid, we're gonna have to get outta here, one way or another." He half-repeated their captors line.

Beth nodded sharply and reached for one of the arrows tucked into the quiver she'd attached to the backpack. As she took a few steadying breaths Daryl armed the crossbow with another bolt and drew himself closer to the window while remaining out of view.

Things were about to get real heavy, real fast. Daryl dipped around the corner of the glass long enough to figure out where each man was standing and spotted one-armed-Willie about ten yards to his left, one-handed-Archie about two yards behind him and Matt just a little off to the right. He didn't know their real names, so just made things up on the spot for them. Daryl didn't see the thin man anywhere but assumed he was keeping close by just in case.

"Ready, kid?" He asked as he peered out the window in a way that kept him mostly hidden from view. When she didn't answer Daryl turned back with an arch in his dark brow. "Beth. Beth!" He called her name a little louder since she was standing with her eyes closed, attempting to block out the world. "Come on, girl, I need you to focus."

Beth snapped herself back to reality, round blue eyes locked on his face. "I'm okay. I'm ready." She murmured just barely loud enough for him to have heard her.

Without further discussion Daryl reached onto the bookshelf and grasped a paper weight. "When I tell you to, throw it through that window." He ordered and tossed it to her. She looked only mildly confused as she caught the little glass orb awkwardly but nodded in response. "An' get ready to shoot right away." He told her before shifting just enough to aim his elbow at the window closest to him. "Now!"

The crash of both windows echoed around the both of them and before the glass had even hit the cold ground below Daryl had already fired his bolt, catching one-handed-Archie in the gut. He ducked back to lock in another as Beth aimed and fired at Matt. Her arrow fell about four feet short and skidded in the grass. "Don't miss!" Daryl said just loud enough to get her attention. While there was a hint of scolding to his tone the worry overshadowed it easily. He stepped in line of the window once more, aimed for one-armed-Willie and took the shot. His aim was true and the bolt sunk into the man's chest. Where Archie was pulling himself to his feet, Willie had dropped dead. With a quick victory smirk Daryl dipped back to lock another into place.

Beth had already knocked another arrow against her bow and stepped in front of the window. With a quick exhale and squint of her eyes the arrow soared for only a millisecond before sticking in Matt's arm. She mentally cursed herself and quickly shouldered another arrow, then let it fly without thinking about where the aim was, without thinking about hitting her mark square on. Perhaps luck was on her side, perhaps it was that Matt was still shocked from the arrow in his bicep because he hadn't taken up much of a defensive position. Instead the arrow struck through his throat. If Daryl had to guess, as he popped in view of the window just as the man began to descend toward the cold ground, it'd slammed through his Adam's apple. He'd have to praise the girl on that one.. later.

That only left Archie and the thin man, whom they had no idea of his whereabouts, and as Daryl's gaze scanned the yard he found that he couldn't see Archie either. _Where the hell'd he go?_ He thought with a frown yanking his lips down. He turned back toward Beth to see the girl panting quietly, her pale orbs scanning the yard as well. "Think we scared them off?" She asked, allowing her gaze to shift toward Daryl.

"It'd be nice, wouldn't it?" He responded with a chuckle.

"It's pretty-" whatever she was going to say vanished from her lips as something bright flew through the other open window and struck the sectional. Instantly it burst into flames with a shatter of glass and a small cry of shock from Beth.

"Molotov." He cursed and turned away from the flames toward the window. No sooner as his sight set on Archie he let the bolt fly. Half a second later and it sliced clean through his chest and stuck in the dog house behind him. Daryl tried not to wonder where in the hell they'd gotten the alcohol from to make their little fire bomb. It wasn't as if it was something easily found anymore. Unless these guys made it, which wasn't difficult if someone knew what they were doing. "Thin guy's all that's left." He told the girl over his shoulder.

"Daryl, we're gonna have to get out of here soon." She replied with a faint cough, the acrid smoke beginning to fill the room. Whatever the sectional was made of the smoke that came off it was horrid. Probably some polyester blend crap since it ignited pretty easily.

"Just keep away from the flames." He commanded, although knew that that was going to get rather difficult soon considering the flames that had once been on the other side of the door were splintering it, which meant those weren't too far from seeping into the room. With another quick glance outside he realized he still had no clue where the thin guy was, just that he was well out of sight.

Two trees were in his line of sight, but with winter having settled in they were barren and he couldn't spot a soul in either. The dog house was within view, but it wasn't quiet large enough to house a person, nor hide one. The swing set was partially in view, but again it wasn't something that could hide someone.

It was then that Daryl realized he shouldn't be looking at a distance for the man. He quickly dipped his head out of the window to spot the male ducked below the other window, glancing rapidly between the two for either to peek their heads out, a glock clasped in his hands. Daryl had to admit that the man looked a little too comfortable holding the handgun, too. He thought police because, oddly, the guy made him think of Rick.

"Daryl..." Beth's voice drew the thin man's attention to Daryl and without hesitation he fired a shot toward the redneck. Daryl heard the crack resound on the morning air and was relieved that the man hadn't had enough time to properly aim as the window sill splintered and cracked around where the bullet wedged itself in. He heard Beth begin coughing behind him and cursed himself for not having a better plan than this.

"Get low, Beth." He ordered, hoping to keep her from inhaling too much of the smoke that was quickly beginning to fill the room. He didn't need to look to know that the door had become kindling for the fire in the hall and that it was probably taking over the house by now. Thankfully, they'd grabbed their things from upstairs.

Beth crawled closer to the window where the cleaner air was, the bounce of her backpack momentarily distracted Daryl. As an idea struck him he smiled and quickly knelt beside her to work on pulling it off of her shoulders. "I want you to drop it right out the window. It'll hit the guy and distract him long enough so I can fire one off." He said and smirked. Beth stared at the pack for a moment before nodding sharply.

She'd long since learned that in times of distress it was impractical to question Daryl's judgment. Not only was he older, but he had a helluva lot more combat experience than she did. After knocking a hand back through her pale hair to get the loose strands out of her face Beth moved closer to the window on her hands and knees while Daryl moved to the other. He leaned against the wall beside the window and held up three fingers. He mouthed the words 'three, two, one' and dropped a finger with each one. When he hit one she quickly jumped up and pushed her bag out of the window.

Daryl leaned out of the other window at the same time. Sadly, they'd misjudged the thin man's distance from under the window and the bag missed him by half a foot. While it did do the job of distracting him, it wasn't enough for Daryl to get the kill shot he'd been aiming for. He'd been aiming square for the man's temple, but the guy moved just as Daryl let the bolt loose and instead it went through his shoulder, the tip escaping just above his collarbone.

With a groan the man aimed his gun and fired, this time Daryl wasn't quick enough–the guy had had a moment to actually aim, too–and the bullet darted through his upper right arm. Instantly, a blinding pain shot between his eyes, yanking himself back into the room and raising his free hand to cover the wound with a muttered curse on his lips.

"Ohmygod, Daryl!" Beth quickly lunged for him, eyes wider than he'd ever seen them with worry.

"I'm alright." He snapped through the pain. Trying to ignore that throbbing pain in his arm Daryl attempted to put another bolt into his crossbow, but found that his right arm wasn't as cooperative as he would have liked.

"Fuck it." He murmured and pulled the gun they kept for emergencies from his waistband. There were three spare clips since it was rarely used. Guns brought on too much attention from the walkers, but considering the thin man had already fired his twice there wasn't much damage that could be done now. Being right handed Daryl naturally tried to aim with it and barely lifted his arm away from his side before wincing.

When he nearly dropped the gun Beth quickly took it from his grip. She looked scared, but there wasn't much that could be done about that. She had fired a handgun a couple of times. Not enough to call herself good but enough that she knew what she was doing, at the very least. "I'll distract him. Aim for the head, Beth, don't miss." He stated while looking at her face. After coughing once or twice on the smoke that was filling his lungs Daryl grasped a book with his left hand off of the shelf and stepped closer to the window. As soon as the blonde was settled beside the window he peered out briefly to see the thin man still on the ground where he'd been, this time clutching at his arm in pain.

After a snap glance toward the blonde he threw the book at the male at the same time Beth ducked out of the window. Her first shot missed the guys head and instead slammed into the dirt beside his rear, the second went through the crown of the mans skull and instantly he snapped forward.

There was no victory dance, there was no time for a celebration, there was no time for champagne and toasts. Instead Daryl gripped his backpack and shoved it out of the broken window, then placed his left hand on Beth's shoulder–staining her shirt red with his blood–and steered her toward the window. "Go." He ordered.

Beth quickly climbed onto the window sill, then dropped to the grass below and rolled to avoid tearing her ankles. As soon as she hit the dirt Daryl awkwardly clambered onto the ledge and planted his feet against the side of the house to help propel himself out since his arm wasn't of much use. Beth had already begun darting around to grab what arrows and bolts she could find by the time he had started to haul himself to his feet. She rushed back and picked up their packs as well before moving back to him.

Her free hand grasped his uninjured arm and began pulling at him to get him moving. "Come on, I need to look at that." She said, indicating the bullet wound.

"Eh, it's alright, we need to get somewhere safe first." He countered. "Four shots fired? Walkers are gonna to be coming this way pretty quick."

"Good point, Mr. Dixon." She replied and shouldered both of their bags. Daryl rolled his eyes in semi-annoyance before reaching out his good arm to take hold of one.

"I ain't crippled, girl."

Beth didn't argue and allowed him to take one of the bags before the two began running toward the field behind the house in the hopes of getting somewhere safe, away from the walkers that would be drawn toward the sound of the gunshots. Hopefully they'd be able to find a safe place to rest soon, because she admittedly hated seeing the blood that was steadily seeping from the wound.

**I love your reviews, people, they keep the fuel going. Let me know what you think!**


	6. Eighteen Miles Out

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I know that a lot of you are probably a little irritated about the first people they had come across being evil/ruthless. Sorry, my perception on how the world would be if something like this really were to happen is a little morbid. A lot of the genuinely good people would die first. The only ones who lived-and maintained that goodness-were the ones like Rick's group who had found people of like mind. There's still good in the world, but Daryl and Beth haven't come across it just yet. Also, I know I keep saying I'm going to focus on my other stories, but I can't get this one out of my head, sooo on with it!**

–

Almost a week had passed since they'd nearly been taken from their own little pleasant heaven to.. God only knew what. Beth had to admit that the first couple of days were the worst. Both were exhausted, not only from the sleepless night they'd had but from the smoke inhalation and the firefight. Plus Daryl had been losing blood at a sickening rate. Well, actually he hadn't lost that much, but the sight had been enough to freak Beth out considerably.

They'd ran nearly a full mile from the burning house, passing several walkers along the way. With Daryl's good arm incapacitated she had had the pleasure of dispatching them, shoving her pocket knife through each skull and ripping it out before she continued her run. When they both felt safe enough they dropped to the cold ground in the empty field, panting heavily.

Daryl had lost close to a pint of blood, barely from the actual wound but more from his heart pumping so rapidly in adrenaline. After she'd caught her breath the girl quickly dug into one of the bags and yanked out one of the shirts she'd packed. A quick exam of the wound told her that the bullet hadn't lodged within his arm, but had crashed out the other side. It took her a couple of minutes to determine that the bone wasn't broken, thankfully, before she cut the shirt into several strips–tucking some away for later–and wrapping one tightly around the bleeding holes.

Once they had both regained their breath the two stood and got back on the road. There wasn't much need for talking and the two had kept a considerable distance from one another during their walk. Neither really slept for the first two days, taking breaks here and there when they assumed it was safe enough to do, perhaps catching an hour or so before it was time to move again. On the third night both were irritable from lack of sleep, food and Daryl's slowly healing arm. He griped enough about the damn thing that Beth had twice bitten back a snappy comment about just cutting the damn thing off.

They found several cars empty on the road and, much like the night they'd run from the prison, the two hunkered down in the trunk of one–tying it mostly closed with one of the shirt strips. It was an uncomfortable sleep, to be honest, but it had been better than nothing. When they woke neither was sure what time it was or even how long they'd slept. The grumbling in the blonde's stomach made her believe they'd slept for days but having been hungry before laying down hadn't helped. After checking for walkers they'd climbed out of the cramped space and into the morning sunlight.

Beth dug through their bags for whatever food they had left and found a quarter bag of stale Lucky Charms. The end of their supply. It was with a sigh that she dug out a handful for herself before offering it to him.

"Should'a got the food outta the house when we had the chance." He remarked, only fueling her hunger-induced irritation.

"We were a little busy being nearly killed by crazy people." She murmured under her breath before popping a few more of the stale bits into her mouth.

Daryl flashed her a momentary glare before snatching the bag from her hand and scooping some out for himself. She knew that she shouldn't get angry with him, both of them were tired and achy, neither had had much sleep and he was still healing from a wound that could have been a lot worse than it was. She knew that she shouldn't be angry but she couldn't help it.

After that the two continued walking, looking for somewhere safe to settle in again, if only for another night. They were getting used to the cold, that or the days were slowly becoming warmer. Beth wished for a calender, for a news report, a newspaper.. something. She knew it was going into February, which meant that the cold would stop soon enough and they just had to tough it out until then. It was a little simpler for her to deal with the cold weather, Daryl seemed to be the one who had the most problem with it. His being cold nearly all the time didn't help matters and the blood that still occasionally leaked from the wound only made things worse.

Now, nearly four days after their cold and uncomfortable night in the trunk, the two were walking along a country road. They typically avoided cities and towns as most held more walkers than the countryside, but it was starting to slowly turn toward the opposite since the walkers had all started to gather together and wander the world. It was hard telling where it was safer anymore. The high grass danced softly in the gentle breeze that blew cool air as the warm sun beat down on them. Beth had a feeling that this warmth wasn't going to last very long, but she was determined to soak up what she could.

Daryl was still being grumpy, so she was mostly ignoring him. Other than their miffed conversation on the trunk of the car days back neither had said much to the other except the rare occasion that they needed to change direction or take down a lone walker. The girl drew up short as she stared into the distance, quickly reaching out for his uninjured arm. "Daryl! Look!" She exclaimed happily while pointing in the distance.

Half a mile from their current location stood a single story home off the road by about a quarter mile. "Think there's food?" She asked with a smile slowly creeping onto her lips.

"Hope so, I'm starved." He grumbled. It was difficult to catch any sort of wild game in the winter since most of the animals had gone into their brief hibernation. Sure, there were deer pretty much everywhere but until they could get into a larger town and to a large department store they couldn't really spare the bolts or arrows. "Come on, Beth." He said in a softer tone, reaching out for her arm.

The girl smiled gently as she took his hand instead to walk beside him. It only took about half an hour to walk the distance they needed before the house came into greater view. And when it did both of their hearts sank. "Son of a bitch.." he murmured. The house was nothing more than an empty shell. Half of it wasn't even finished and the wooden support beams appeared to be rotting from the weather changes.

It looked as though someone had been in the process of building it when the apocalypse started. Daryl sighed heavily causing the blonde to frown softly. "There goes that idea.." she murmured over the grumble in her stomach before raising a hand to point at a bullet riddled sign roughly 30 yards from where they stood. It read LaGrange 10 miles. "We're almost in Alabama." She stated while turning her gaze toward him. "Think we ought to turn around?"

Daryl thought about it for a moment or so before shaking his head softly, "nah. We need to look for some food and weapons. We're both runnin' low and can't afford that." He stated. He'd barely taken a step forward when Beth gripped the hand she'd been holding and pulled him back toward her.

"Wait. How safe is it to be goin' traipsing through a big city?"

"Ain't no worse or better than out here." He responded with a frown.

Beth could understand his desire to look for food, to look for weapons or shelter or god only knew what else a larger city could provide, the problem was that he wasn't back to 100% just yet and the thought of the walkers overwhelming them freaked her out. Sure, she could handle herself pretty well, Beth was fairly confident in her abilities now, but the girl knew that she still counted on Daryl to pick up whatever slack she might have.

If their group were larger she wouldn't be as worried. "What if those guy's group is there?" She asked logically. Of course, the men who'd attempted to take them hostage could have had their camp set up just about anywhere, but the guys had said it was a three day walk from the house. While they were running on their fourth day, that was also with varying amounts of breaks due to their exhaustion and Daryl's bandage needing changed regularly.

His dark brows furrowed as he considered the possibility of her question. While it was a considerably large possibility there was still the chance that it was wrong. There were plenty of towns and cities within the three day walk time frame from the house they'd been in that could be the camp of the men. "Then we'll get close enough to at least check it out. The guys said that the women stay behind which means they'll have some sorta protection.. like the Governor did at Woodbury."

Looking thoroughly unconvinced Beth nodded lightly in defeat. "Let's at least get off the road." She voiced while giving his arm a tug to pull him over toward the shoulder. He smiled lightly and pulled his hand from within hers to wind it gently around her waist and draw her frame closer.

–

The sky had turned that pretty pink and orange that signaled the end of the day by the time they had gotten within a half mile of LaGrange. Neither saw anything to tell them it was occupied by a 'thriving city'. On the contrary it looked just as dead as every other town and village Beth had seen since the start of all this. If it weren't for the fact that darkness was quickly setting in she would have suggested going in search of a department store now, but the thought of walkers getting the better of them in the dark made her shudder.

The closer they walked toward town the more houses they began to spy on the side of the road. While her stomach groaned again Beth pointed at the house closest to them, less than a fifteen minute walk, and suggested, "let's camp there for the night? Maybe there'll be food?"

Daryl looked ahead and nodded softly. He probably would have protested, if not for the ache that had been plaguing his stomach all day. Neither of them had anything left to eat and he worried about what strength they might have if there were a lot of walkers within LaGrange tomorrow. No, it was best to rest up and get something in their stomachs first. So long as there was something to put in their stomach anyway.

The house was a pale brown with a wrap around porch, porch swing and over-grown grass. It looked a lot like every other Georgia home. A garage was attached to the house and a large white barn stood about fifty yards in the back with a stable that had once housed horses. If it weren't for the fact that the animals had probably already escaped–if not starved to death–he would have suggested trying to get one. It was two stories tall, with what looked like most of the windows still intact. All in all, it was quiet.

Quiet was good, but could also be troublesome. Until most walkers heard something to attract them they stayed silent, which meant that until they made some noise they wouldn't know if there were anything within the house. Beth gripped her hatchet tightly in her right hand, releasing Daryl's in the process as they drew closer to the home, then watched as he grabbed his hunting knife from the sheathe on his belt.

She contemplated looking to see if there were an unlocked window as they climbed slowly onto the porch, hoping to avoid any sort of creaking and groaning from the house, but figured that checking the doors would be the better option first.

Surprisingly it was unlocked, but the inside of the house didn't give her much hope of finding anything to eat. It looked as though it had been ransacked fairly early on by the amount of dust that had settled over everything.

As if the two had practiced it a hundred times (which was all too likely since they'd been traveling together so long) they swept the first floor of the house to check each room for walkers. A door that both were certain lead to a basement was held shut by an over turned refrigerator with the words '**DEAD INSIDE'** spray painted across the door and surrounding wall. It, at least, gave the blonde the hope that the rest of the house would be empty. Naturally, the two had to do a sweep anyway.

It was a relief to tuck the hatchet into her belt when they'd checked the whole house and it came up clean. Well, clear of walkers, anyway. By all standards the place was downright filthy and she was betting that they weren't the first to come across the place. Beth became distracted as she wandered the living room, her gaze dancing over the faces in the pictures on the mantle. An older couple who appeared to be in their sixties, perhaps older, were holding one another with large smiles. A slightly younger couple held twin guys with dark hair and bright smiles. Three wedding pictures, two school pictures, three graduation pictures, a picnic. Each of them held the same smiling, happy faces and Beth sighed as she picked up one. A beautiful brunette stared up at her with a near perfect smile. The woman was holding a rolled up piece of paper and shaking hands with a much older male.

While she stared, Beth was overcome with sadness. Not for the girl in the picture, she was probably long since dead, for the life she would never have. The girl was graduating high school, heading toward a future. Of course, that future didn't much matter now unless this girl knew the cure for all of this (though Beth didn't believe there was one). It was just the point that once more, she would be missing out on some important milestone of life.

"D'you hear me?" Daryl's hand on her waist caused her to jump, eyes wide as she turned to look at him. Honestly she'd tuned most everything out as her thoughts had turned toward a fantasy world where everything was normal. Kind of sad when normality was the fantasy.

"What?" She asked, still not having heard what he'd said. The blonde watched a faint smirk tug on his lips as he shook his head.

"I said there's a little bit'a food in the kitchen that ain't been taken yet."

"Oh, that's good." She replied, still a little distractedly.

"Whatchu lookin' at?" Daryl asked as he leaned a little closer.

Beth held up the picture and fought off the sad smile that threatened her lips. "Just some girl graduating high school." She responded with a sigh in her tone.

"Thinkin' about how that ain't gonna happen for you?" He asked, fighting a smirk.

Beth rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the sensitivity." She quipped.

"Hey, I never graduated neither."

"Really?"

"Dropped out before high school. Merle'd already left school and dad didn't pay much attention. I thought I already knew everything I needed to anyway." He responded with a quick shrug on his shoulders.

Beth frowned a little, brows furrowing slightly. "Didn't know that." She murmured before turning and setting the photograph back on the mantle where she'd found it. "Let's get something to eat." The girl stated while she turned her back on the sadness and pressed her hands against his chest to get him moving.

Daryl chuckled softly under his breath, his mood obviously having improved since they'd found a place to camp for the night and something to fill their bellies. Of course, he had other ideas as the girl put herself so close to him but Daryl was far more interested in food at the moment. Without putting up a fight he lead her quickly to the surprisingly fancy kitchen. A double oven took up a vast amount of space between dark marble counters and light wood cabinets. A small island was stationed in the center of the room with a large sink settled in the center.

If it weren't for all the death of the apocalypse surrounding them, Beth would have fantasized about having a kitchen like this for herself. There wasn't a whole lot of food that hadn't already been taken by other survivors but there was enough to at least get them through the night and perhaps another couple of days, dependent upon how well they could ration it out. There were several cans of something or another, the labels long since lost. There was a couple of unopened boxes of cereal, though Beth knew that the cereal would still be stale. Two boxes of spaghetti noodles and a jar of sauce sat side by side within the cupboard and Beth felt her mouth salivate at the idea. Of course, it was something that would require fresh water and a fire but she couldn't help but swoon over the idea of spaghetti–meat or no.

Without a word to the other, Daryl dug into his pack for the can opener that had been stuffed there from the last house and Beth selected two separate cans that she hoped were something they could eat without having to cook. The first was a can of cut green beans and the second refried beans. While Beth wouldn't have thought to put the two items together before all of this, she wasn't going to complain about the prospect of having something in her stomach this time around.

They'd intended on having their own cans but each wound up wanting some of what the other had and they had shared instead. Within a few minutes both cans were empty and they were still hungry. After eying the unlabeled cans on the counter Beth turned toward Daryl who was already looking at her with question. A smirk pulled on her lips as she reached out for one, then pushed it toward him. He didn't bother to say anything as he quickly opened it and made a face as the thick green contents. Beth's nostrils wrinkled up slightly at the smell of the spinach. She'd never much cared for it and judging by the look on Daryl's face he hadn't either.

"It's already open, would be a shame to waste it." She stated and frowned slightly. He nodded, though didn't appear pleased at the prospect of eating the mushy greens. Ten minutes later and all of the food they could find was stacked tidily on the counter to await their morning departure while the sun steadily dipped lower in the sky.

As the warmth from the sun fully vanished Beth shivered and yawned at the same time causing Daryl to chuckle. She reached out a hand to playfully shove his shoulder before darting for the stairs with a giggle on her lips. Naturally, with his lankier legs Daryl could have caught up to her before she'd even hit the first step but he gave her a momentary head start. He hesitated long enough to count her footfalls and when she'd hit the fourth step up he shoved off the counter and raced for the stairs.

As she'd run up the stairs she had ripped the backpack from her shoulders, then Beth ducked into the first bedroom she'd seen during their sweep of the house that had a large bed. She dropped the pack onto the floor by the end of the bed. Her plan was to be laying comfortably on the bed by the time he'd gotten up the stairs, unfortunately that plan didn't go off too well. A loud squeal escaped her as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her off the floor. The girl giggled as Daryl turned in mid-air, his momentum causing them to go crashing toward the bed, so that he landed with her on his chest.

No sooner had he hit the bed and Daryl quickly shifted his grip on her to pin her against the bed with him hovering over. In the fading light she could see a smirk painted on his lips and couldn't keep the smile off of her own. Her right hand rose to gently brush across his cheek before he leaned down and captured her lips in a soft kiss.

As tired as she was–and assumed he was, too–Beth sank into the kiss easily. Her slender arms wound around him to drawn him even closer. She felt him move just enough to roll his shoulders as he pushed the backpack off and let it sink to the floor. Their kiss made her dizzy from the lack of air getting to her lungs, his fingers in her pale hair relaxed her more than she'd been all week and she couldn't keep herself from clutching to him.

It was Daryl that had the sense to break their kiss with a panting breath escaping him. Beth could still taste his lips as his warm breath tickled her face and his fingers continued to toy with her hair. As she leaned in to kiss him again Daryl let out a groan against her lips that made her frown softly. "We need to get some sleep." He murmured against her lips, though sounded as if he wanted to do anything but.

A soft pout formed on her pale lips as she looked up at him, "I thought the girl was supposed to make the excuses." She retorted with a shaky breath.

"Excuse for what?" He countered huskily, unable to stop his left hand from traveling down her side.

Beth felt herself arching under him as his thumb brushed across her breast through all the material of her clothes. "Excuses to stop.." she replied and bit into her lower lip.

His shaking breath tickled her cheeks once more causing her eyes to dance over his face, taking in his expression. She'd never seen him battling so hard with himself as he was now. "I don't want to stop.." he whispered as his own eyes flicked open to settle on her face.

"So don't." She breathed and leaned up to kiss him again.

Daryl muttered something under his breath that she didn't catch before he returned the kiss with passion.

–

**Keeping it PG-13 for the time being, no real sexytimes, just fluffs..**


	7. Walk With Me

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I know I keep saying I'm going to take a break from writing.. I just can't stop! Your praise helps! Thanks to everyone who is reading and sending me the loves!**

–

Beth shifted against his side, her right hand raising to brush the matted locks of hair from her face. Daryl was still sleeping peacefully next to her and she couldn't stop the faint smile from tugging onto her lips. Her body ached still from the days on the road as well as she and Daryl's partial fooling around the night before. A part of her wished that things would have continued last night but she was satisfied with it all the same. Heated kisses and touches that still made her stomach turn and a blush fill her cheeks.

Sure, she wished that things could have been different. Not between them, just in general. Although, if she really thought about it Beth knew that if there were no apocalypse she and Daryl would never have been together like they were. Hell, if there had been no apocalypse she and Daryl probably never would have met. The thought caused a frown to dance across her lips. It was something she found herself thinking of often: what if this world had never come to be?

Right now she was certain she'd have graduated high school and been looking into colleges. Maggie would be in college, she might have even met Glenn. Her father would be alive, her brother. She never would have met Carl and Rick, she'd never have known Carol or Andrea. Michonne would probably never have crossed her path and if she had it was unlikely that the two would have spared the other a second glance.

Actually, if she thought about it Beth knew that she never would have given Daryl a second glance before all of this. He probably wouldn't have looked at her, either. Beth wasn't certain which was worse; the knowledge that things could be normal but she'd never have fallen for Daryl, or that things could never be normal and everyone she cared for was most likely dead.

Pushing away her morbid thoughts, her thin fingers brushed a couple of strands of his dark hair from his face before she shifted closer and pressed a quick kiss to his jaw. If it weren't for the fact that they had to go into town today the girl would have left him sleep. "Daryl.." she whispered in an almost sing-song voice. "Wakey, wakey."

She let her fingers dance across the stubble growing on his cheeks as she tried to rouse him. Daryl frowned softly and lifted a hand to swat at her fingers in his sleep. It was apparent that the man was trying not to wake up. As she called his name again he groaned and shook his head before rolling over and burying his face in her neck.

Beth couldn't stop the little giggle that escaped her as her fingers instinctively combed back through his hair. After turning to press her lips to his forehead she murmured his name softly, "wake up, Mr. Dixon."

The brunette snored softly and Beth couldn't tell right away if he were faking or not. Her fingers dipped below the covers and darted under his shirt in the attempt to tickle him. Unfortunately until she touched his warm skin she'd forgotten just how cold her fingers were before they brushed along his spine. Instantly he arched his back away from her touch while letting out a sound she'd only ever heard in cartoons. "Eeee." He cringed and looked up at her, "you tryin' to freeze me?"

Beth fought the laugh that threatened to escape her as her pale eyes danced over her face. She shook her head quickly, not trusting that if her mouth opened words would come out instead of laughter.

"Think that's funny, huh?" His eyes narrowed playfully as Beth shook her head a little harder, very obviously fighting not to burst into giggles. "I'll get you back." He threatened cheerfully.

"I was only trying to tickle you." Beth finally managed without raucous laughter escaping.

He hummed and nodded as if he didn't believe her but there was a smile lingering around the corner of his lips that made the girl laugh quietly as she snuggled in closer to him. "Uh-uh. We gotta wake up, don't we?" He teased and playfully pushed her away.

Beth felt the bright smile pulling her lips as she looked over at him, "we are awake." She pointed out. Her slender fingers brushed across his cheeks, gently pulling his face to hers.

When Daryl shifted his weight, the redneck put more weight than he should have on his right elbow and quickly pulled back from the girl with a muffled groan of pain. The bullet wound was healing well enough but he still had to be wary of what he did with the arm. For instance, putting most of his weight down on the arm stretched the muscle and tore open the wound. Again.

While he'd been careful last night, if only because of the aches it'd been giving him as a constant reminder, the full nights sleep had allowed him to briefly forget about the hole through his upper arm. He'd been lucky enough that it hadn't torn muscle or broken through a vein or even shattered his bone. Instead it'd been clean through. It wasn't the first wound he'd ever gotten and it certainly wouldn't be the last but that didn't make it hurt any less.

Beth sat up quickly her pale hands finding his arm in the early morning light. "I'm sorry," she murmured.

His dark hair bounced around his face while shaking his head, "ain't your fault."

"Maybe not, but I forgot about it."

"Yeah, I did too." He replied with a quick smile over at the girl. Daryl tightened the cloth they'd wrapped around it before shivering in the cool air. "We should probably get around to go." He told her as he leaned back carefully on his left hand.

Beth forced a smile and nodded gently. After brushing her fingers back through his dark hair the girl climbed out of the warmth of their bed and began pulling on more clothes.

–

It only took about ten minutes for the both of them to be bundled back up in their warm clothes with their bags repacked and ready to go. With a bag of cereal passing back and forth between them, the two began the walk into the city. Beth estimated it would take roughly an hour for them to get into town and then who knew how long until they found the store they were searching for.

As they walked and ate, the two talked about various things, though nothing pertaining to what they were about to do. Beth knew what happened if they got separated. There was too great of a chance they'd never see one another again, so there was no need to actually say anything about it. Both knew that they needed to stick close together. They'd been traveling together long enough to know to watch each others back, and that was what they were going to do.

They commented on training Beth a little more with the crossbow, then talked about various things they missed about life before all of this. The girl seemed to have a lot more than Daryl did, and when she really thought about it Beth knew she'd been pretty damned spoiled. Daryl had never really had it easy and the thing he seemed to miss the most was his brother. Of course, she could easily relate. She missed Maggie more than anything else in the world. She missed her own brother and her father and mother and aunt. She missed a lot of people.

Beth had long since learned to keep that to herself, though. There was hope of seeing them again but not much. While she had hope, Daryl didn't have any at all or if he did he kept it to himself. She avoided talking about thinking she'd see any of them again, if only for the reason that Beth felt her sister was alive. She had Maggie, she had Glenn. Daryl's family was gone. Every one of them. The petite blonde was certain he was glad for the fact his father was gone and perhaps his mother as well, there wasn't a thing in the world that could make him not miss Merle.

Pushing the thoughts away with a silent sigh the blonde passed the near empty bag of cereal back to Daryl who upended it as he walked, emptying the remaining contents into his mouth. She rolled her eyes and laughed quietly as he made a face of contentment at her. As they began to cross over into city limits all talk and laughter vanished from the both of them. Beth released Daryl's hand and quickly armed her bow while making sure both her hatchet and hunting knife were readily available. The male did the same, though Beth noticed that there was a hint of unsteadiness to his grip on the crossbow. She assumed it was from the weight of it bearing down on his injured arm and hoped to god that it wouldn't count against them later.

The streets were quiet, the cool wind blew old scraps of paper across the concrete, a stray walker shuffled about in the distance. She wondered just how many walkers were hiding out in the houses around them, or in the shopfronts that began to line the street. As they walked out of the more residential section of town and into the business she wondered just where they would need to go to find food and weapons.

"So, what exactly are we looking for?" The girl asked in a low voice.

Daryl slowly revolved in place to check all around them for walkers or anything else, something he did every quarter block or so to ensure they were safe walking down the street. "A store that's got weapons, like a Walmart or Sears or somethin'." He replied distractedly.

Beth should have known better than to try to talk while they were in the middle of something like this, it was distracting and Daryl used pretty much every ounce of concentration to listen for danger as they moved. She flashed a glance toward him and couldn't help but to be reminded of a very paranoid little mouse as he once more stopped to swivel on the spot, his eyes checking the distance. He seemed to use every sense available to him. That's what made him such a great tracker.

"What about a pawn shop?" She asked quietly, pointing in the distance. Two blocks ahead a large marquee hung off the side of a building stating _Al's Star Pawn &amp; Loan._

Daryl considered it for a moment or two and frowned while shaking his head. "Someone probably already looted it, ain't gonna be much worth usin'."

"You think there might be arrows or something in there? I mean, how many people actually use a crossbow?" She suggested helpfully.

The brunette frowned and glanced around the car lined street briefly, then nodded softly. "Alright, we'll check." He replied.

Beth allowed her gaze to dance around the car lined street and think about what it had been like in simpler times. Back when people climbed behind the wheels of those cars, little boys rode their bikes and skateboards down the sidewalks, girls skipped arm in arm, adults walked in and out of the shops to complete their daily errands. She envisioned car horns honking at the people who jaywalked or the noisy skateboarders who rode in the street. She imagined that she could smell fresh baked bread and cut flowers from a street vendor, the smell of car exhaust and the faint taste of the dirty air that used to be here.

As the blonde brought herself back to reality a frown lingered on her lips. Beth wondered, as she had many other times, if things would ever go back to that. She wondered if there would ever be a time, whether or not it was in her own lifetime, that things would be normal again. With families and schools, shops and hospitals. One could only hope.

Her gaze shifted toward Daryl as they two moved closer to the pawn shop. It was quiet all around, the only sound was the soft rustle of abandoned soda cups as the wind blew them slowly across the concrete. It didn't take very long at all before the two of them had stopped in front of the closed door. There was no lock or cage over the door to bar their access, only a jingling bell above the glass paned door to signal their entry. As soon as the bell clanged Daryl froze in place, holding the crossbow just a little higher as he peered through the darkness in search of anything shuffling their way. Beth had instantly put her back to his, her bow raised and at the ready as her pale eyes scanned the streets in search of walkers coming toward the sound.

After a few moments silence she felt Daryl relax and a coolness at her back as he stepped further into the shop. The girl followed suit in silence. Most of the glass cases that had once held pretty things or guns and ammo were shattered, their contents missing or strewn about the floor. Several times Beth felt jewelry crunch under her boots as she stepped into the poorly lit room. Without a word she shouldered the bow and hefted the hatchet into her hand as protection. It was simpler to use that in cramped quarters than the bow anyway.

A tall shelf had been knocked over, it leaned against the wall adjacent to it, it's contents scattered. "See anything?" She asked quietly as Daryl swept the area in a slow walk.

"Uh-uh." The male shook his head as he made it to the far wall and slipped behind the counter. Two doors stood here, one with a small window that showed an empty office, the computer and safe sat forgotten inside. He tried the door and found it locked before looking to the other. This one held a little white and red sign that said "_Employees Only_" in large block lettering. A quick twist of the handle told him it was unlocked but he needed to clear the rest of the front before going any further back.

Beth glanced toward him as he searched behind the counter for anything useful, then she dropped silently to her hands and knees to peer under the fallen shelving unit. Shattered glass was scattered about, the remnants of what appeared to be snow globes and small, pretty lamps lay on the floor. A frown tugged her lips before she pushed herself back to her feet. With another quick look around the blonde stepped toward the end of the counter just as Daryl finished his sweep.

"Got nothin' up front, might be somethin' back there." He indicated the Employee door.

Without waiting for an invitation Beth gripped the hatchet a little tighter and twisted the handle. Behind her she heard Daryl lift the crossbow and she ducked just a little lower so that he could see over her head-not like he had much difficulty of that anyway-before she carefully pushed the door open. It was near pitch black, but silent. After pushing the door fully open the blonde jumped back, just in case something wanted to come through.

The two stood in silence for a few moments longer before feeling secure enough that it was empty. "We need light." Beth murmured as she began scouring the floors in the hopes of finding a candle or even one of those old fashion hurricane lamps. Daryl followed suit in the search, ripping open cabinets and drawers until a near silent whistle slipped through his lips.

"What?" She murmured, jumping to her feet.

Inside the drawer was a carton of cigarettes. The girl quickly rolled her eyes and stepped away again to keep searching through the drawers. The closest one to the counter held a large Mag light, the kind that probably weighed close to ten pounds. She didn't count on anything as she flicked the switch and was not surprise when it remained off.

Daryl had tucked the carton of smokes into the bedroll on his pack by the time Beth turned toward him. "We need batteries or something."

"We'll be lucky to find a book of matches at this point, Beth." He half-complained, but turned his gaze around to try and find something helpful. Toward the front of the store Beth found two half burned candles still in tall glasses–they looked like the old religious candles she'd seen in specialty shops–and a tall candlestick beneath a book by Steven King.

"Still got that old Zippo?" She asked as she grasped them in her hands and walked back toward him. Daryl nodded and dug into the folds of his clothes until he found it. He hoped that there was enough fluid in it to do them any good and flicked it open and on with a snap of his wrist. When one of the jarred candles and the stick were both burning the two moved closer to the darkened doorway.

What they found was, well, words didn't describe it. People had used this storeroom for a sanctuary. It looked like a lot of people had over time. Makeshift beds were set up along one wall and along the opposite paper was hung and where the paper ran out were names written on the wall in permanent marker, or gouged with knives. Names and dates of the people that had passed through. Beth gasped quietly as she ran to the wall, looking over the names, reading the passages that some people had written and tacked up.

"Daryl.. this is.. Oh my god.." She breathed while running her fingers over different names. Some names had familiarity-the names Judy and Margaret, Rick and Glen. Of course, none of them were the people she knew, but it gave her a little more hope that maybe they were alive out there somewhere. The further along the wall she walked the more recent the dates became or more descriptive of a time frame, anyway.

Daryl walked behind her, marveling as much as she was at the names of all those who had used this place as a sanctuary. "Did we miss somethin' sayin' to camp out here?" He muttered and shook his head in awe.

A name written in black marker stood out much more than the rest at Beth's eye level. It had obviously been written a little more recently than the rest and as the girl stepped closer her breath vanished from her lungs.

"Well, hey there, stranger." A familiar voice said behind them causing both Daryl and Beth to whirl. Although, Beth didn't need to look to know who it was–and she was certain Daryl didn't either. The name on the wall had given it away before Beth had even realized that someone was watching them.

"Carol?" She heard Daryl's shocked voice gasp.

**Show me some love with the cliffhanger!**


	8. Bond

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: -legasp- It's Carol! Also, as we take a walk down the streets of LaGrange, Georgia I'm going to say now that I honestly have little clue about the shops and stores there. I don't know the names of any of them, either. I've never been to Georgia. So if I have something wrong, I apologize in advance.**

–

Daryl's dark blue eyes widened at the sight of the familiar figure leaning in the doorway. They couldn't see her face as the darkness overshadowed her but Daryl would have known that voice anywhere. "Carol?" He gasped in shock.

"Don't sound so surprised, you'll hurt my feelings." The silver haired woman quipped with a grin. Daryl quickly passed his candle back to the blonde and dropped his bag onto the floor. Without further warning he rushed forward, arms wrapping quickly around the woman's waist to hug her tightly to him. In his hurry to get to Carol he'd missed the hurt expression on Beth's features.

He wrapped the older woman in a bear hug and squeezed her tightly to his chest. "Oh my _god!_" He exclaimed with a laugh.

Carol chuckled in return and hugged back him just as tightly. When her feet connected to the floor once more she raised a hand to cup his cheek. "How are you, Daryl?" She asked tenderly.

Daryl shook his head in response, "we're makin' it through. Had a couple rough spots, but nothin' we couldn't handle. Ain't that right, girl?" He called over to Beth who was slowly making her way toward the reunited couple. In the flicker of the candle light he saw the wary expression and frowned at himself before stepping back from Carol. Men were completely clueless as to what went on inside a woman's head but it didn't take a genius to see the apprehension in Beth's face.

"Yeah, we've always worked through it." Beth stated, forcing a quick smile as she looked up to the woman. How could she not be intimidated by Carol? So far as she knew Daryl had loved the woman, probably more than he would ever care for her. "Hey Carol."

"Oh, Beth!" The elder woman cried happily as she stepped forward and quickly wrapped the girl into a tight hug. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Carol. I'm glad you're safe."

Carol brushed her hands tenderly through Beth's hair before the smile began to fade. "Have either of you.." she began. Neither of the others needed her to continue, her tone of voice suggester she was going to ask if they'd seen anyone else. Before she could get the rest of the sentence out they both shook their heads.

"Not since the Governor attacked the prison." Beth commented and shook her head.

"I wondered what had happened." The older woman remarked with a frown tugging at her lips. The group moved out into the sunlight pouring through the windows of the pawnshop and away from the darkness of the storeroom.

"Where'd you get off to anyway?" Daryl asked causing the woman to shift a little uncomfortably.

"Rick and me went off looking for supplies for the sick, we found a couple working cars and some supplies and I sent him on his way back while I was going to bring the second load. We got separated by a large group of walkers and by the time I made it back to the prison everyone was gone." She responded and brushed a hand back through her short hair. "What happened?"

Daryl stared back at her, knowing that it was a lie. Rick had told him the truth only minutes before the prison fell. While Daryl hadn't wanted to believe that Carol had been capable of killing those people, he trusted Rick wholeheartedly. He'd trusted Carol, too. On some level he was trying to believe that she'd done it for good, that there was a right in it all, if only because he'd actually missed the silver-haired woman. Even with that, there was still the fact that she'd just lied to him.

"The Governor." Beth replied sullenly. "He found a new group of people to bully around and had them attack the prison. They.." she paused and swallowed hard, trying to ignore the tears building in her eyes as she looked away from Carol toward Daryl who quickly pushed the thoughts of what Carol had done from his head.

Daryl offered a sad smile before reaching out to wrap his arm around her shoulder, drawing her closer to his side. "They killed Hershel. Michonne killed the Governor before the walkers got through the fence. Everyone scattered. Ain't seen anyone but you in a while. It's damn good to see you, Carol." The redneck stated.

Carol shifted her gaze between the two for a moment, but said nothing about it as she smiled softly and nodded. "It's good to see you, too. I'm.. I'm sorry about your dad, Beth." She murmured and reached out a comforting hand, rubbing the blonde's shoulder.

Beth sniffled and quickly wiped at her eyes as she pulled out from under Daryl's arm. While the girl would have loved to have stayed there all day, it was uncomfortable to do so in front of Carol.. especially when her thoughts were so worried about the woman and Daryl's reunion. "Where have you been since.. everything?" She finally asked when she found her voice again.

"Here. There. Everywhere. I've just sort of been going for a long time."

"All alone?"

"You guys are the first I've run across since me and Rick got split up. It hasn't been easy but I've made due." She replied with a quick smile down at the girl. While Carol still looked like the same woman that they'd both seen close to seven months before, she seemed a lot stronger at the same time. Beth wondered if she still looked like the incapable girl to Carol or if time had changed her as well.

Without warning Daryl laughed softly and wrapped Carol in another tight hug. Well, not without warning, Beth had just been consumed by her thoughts and had missed their conversation. Her pale eyes darted between the two for a moment, though stayed silent. Sure, every fiber of her being was surging with jealousy, so much so that it felt like little insects were crawling under her skin but the girl assumed it was better to keep it to herself for the time being. Besides. Daryl wasn't really that cruel, was he?

He smiled as he clapped the woman on the shoulder and stepped away from her before his dark eyes danced around the pawn shop. Suddenly he remembered why they had come. "We gotta keep moving." He stated, the smile slowly fading. Beth nodded and passed his backpack to him before gripping the candles. Her hope was that the wax would dry quickly enough that she could tuck them into their packs. "You coming with us?" Daryl asked the woman who smiled broadly.

"Wouldn't dream of going anywhere else." She replied brightly.

–

Beth walked ahead of the two, just enough to be out of earshot, yet still close enough that she could fall back to them if something wicked stirred up. She held her bow at the ready, her hatchet and knife tucked into her belt for easy access in case they were needed. Daryl kept his gaze focused on the girl's back between darting glances behind them, that is, while he walked with Carol. She was slightly more relaxed with an axe resting against her shoulder and a Magnum tucked into the waistband of her jeans. Her dark eyes turned around every now and again to check for walkers, but didn't see much.

Besides, she'd been through this part of town earlier and things had seemed pretty empty. "I'm surprised." She murmured just loud enough for Daryl to hear.

"'Bout what?" He replied, flashing her a look of confusion.

"You.. and Beth? I'd have figured if things went south you'd have teamed up with Rick or Michonne. Not Beth." Her gaze danced over the back of the blonde head in front of them before turning back to her companion.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders up quickly and shook his head. "When everything went down Beth was the one I was closest to. Wasn't much choice but to run and I was pretty much stuck with her." He commented, though didn't sound as though he regretted it.

"She's stronger." Carol commented, taking in the way that the girl held the bow and walked ahead almost fearlessly.

"It's just been the two of us for almost six months." He replied and frowned while looking toward the girl, then back to Carol with his brows raised. "It was either she learn or she died and I was sick of bein' alone."

Carol sighed, already knowing how Daryl felt about this. For a long time he'd felt alone, even when he was surrounded by people, this had only gotten worse with Merle's disappearance and then with Merle's death. Just before she'd left the prison and Rick had sent her on her own way Daryl had told her that he was tired of feeling alone. He'd told her how there were only a few people left that made him feel not only worth being around, but gave him joy _to_ be around them. If she remembered correctly anyway, Beth and Daryl had begun to grow closer while at the prison. "I know." She said softly, reaching out a hand to tenderly touch his arm. "Still, I would have envisioned you with Rick or.." her voice trailed at the dark frown that formed on his lips. "What?"

"Nothin', I jus'.." Daryl sighed as he glanced down a side street, then upward toward the roofs of the surrounding buildings, then slowly back to her. "Rick was gettin' to be like a brother, you know, and then every thing just turned to hell. I mean, I know it's the end of the world an' everythin' but I'm jus.. I'm sick of every time things start to look like they could be okay everythin' goes to shit, you know?"

Carol frowned and nodded, understanding how he felt. Of course, Daryl had always had it a little worse than her growing up but her husband had seen to making her adult life and Sophia's childhood miserable. As his eyes fell back to the blonde Carol couldn't help but to smile softly. "You care about her." Her voice was soft, peaceful even.

Daryl nodded without taking his eyes off of the girls back. "I do.." he murmured softly, his free hand raising to knock a few of the dark strands away from his eyes.

"And she cares about you."

A smile tugged on his lips, faint but still there, as he thought about the last week or so. The searing kiss that still made him dizzy and left him feeling breathless. He nodded in response but didn't say anything.

The silver-haired woman smiled softly and squeezed his arm before stepping back. "It's good to see you happy." She told him with a smile tugging her lips.

The one that had been on Daryl's lips faded faster than it had appeared. "Yeah, an' that's what worries me."

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said, every time things start .."

"..to look like they're okay, they turn to shit. Yeah.." Carol repeated his prior statement and sighed. "Just keep her close, Daryl. Protect her and she'll do the same for you. Keep her happy and she'll return it. It's not often enough you can find things to make you happy anymore, Daryl. Cherish them when they come." The woman told him with a gentle nod.

If there were ever a person Daryl wanted for advice or pep talks it was Carol. She knew just what to tell him to get his ass in gear or to help sort his mind. She was probably the closest thing he'd ever had to a best friend in his entire life. Yet at the same time, he knew that he could cope without her. He'd been doing it for almost seven months now, he'd continue to do it. Beth on the other hand.. Beth's words rang through his mind, not for the first time, since that night he felt the attraction toward the blonde. _"..And you're gonna miss me so bad when I'm gone, Daryl Dixon.."_ and he would. Honestly, Daryl knew that he _could_ keep living if Beth were gone, it was a matter of whether or not he'd _want_ to.

He flashed a quick smirk to the woman at his side, "you should'a been writin' books."

She laughed softly and shook her head at his comment. "I doubt I would have had the smarts to do it before all this. We ever see the end of it and you can believe I will." She stated with a smile.

–

The two muttered back and forth for another couple of minutes before catching view of the girl slowing to a stop in the middle of an intersection. Her gaze was focused across the street to the right, a saddened expression overtaking her features. When her older companions stepped up beside her they turned in the same direction. It took Daryl a couple of seconds to see what the girl did, and when he finally saw them a frown touched his lips. A large shopping mall took up the majority of the landscape to the right, a vast parking lot sat lower than street-level with burned out and broken cars littering the concrete, but the cars weren't what caused the stop for all of them.

No, it was beyond the cars. The mall directly behind the parking lot stood four stories tall. It must have been an absolutely impressive structure before the apocalypse took everything down. Even now, almost two years after the fall, it was still impressive but not for the fact of its construction. What stopped all three in their tracks was the walkers inside. Even at a distance it was easy to see the shuffling figures behind the glass on every floor. If he had to guess Daryl would have pinned a thousand within.

It was sad, too, malls usually had hardware stores and hardware stores were great for finding things to make weapons as well as bolts, bows, arrows, bullets and guns. Most even had some good quality knives. Too bad.

"If only there were a way to take them all out at once," Beth murmured softly when she finally realized they were standing beside her.

Daryl sighed quietly, "ain't no way to do that.. not without a nuke or somethin'." His free arm extended to drape around her shoulder, dragging her close in a one armed hug. The girl gratefully leaned into his chest until she remembered Carol and pulled back. Honestly, Beth didn't even know why she was worrying about Carol right now, other than the nagging at the back of her mind that Daryl and her were in love and he'd only used her for company until Carol came back. The thought made her want to kick herself. Daryl wasn't like that. Telling herself that didn't stop the little nagging voice, though.

The male frowned when Beth pulled away and slid his hand down her arm to gently clasp her fingers in his. The girl turned back toward him and looked him in the eye, brows furrowing at the look on his face. Daryl stared back at her until a quick smile peaked her lips. He smirked back before releasing her hand, and the group made their way slowly down the left side street to stay out of view of the mall as much as they possibly could.

The sun was still high in the sky as they walked, passing several other businesses that would yield them nothing and more burnt out cars. Abandon vendor carts mingled in with the cars and empty store fronts to give everything an eerie look. Of course, that eerie feeling had settled into most everything in the last year and a half.

Only another block or so and parking lots once more lined the roads. Strip malls covered the right side with pet stores, banks, employment agencies and diners. On the left were the chain-stores. Walmart, Home Depot, OfficeMax, even an ABC Warehouse. He raised his good arm to point toward the Walmart, "That's where we need to go." He commented and both women nodded softly.

None of them knew how much danger, if any, could be awaiting them within the store. If they had any amount of luck all the walkers would have been in the mall. If their lives were any indicator of what to expect, they had no luck. Luck wasn't something that fell to one person or one group of people. Not anymore. Luck was for the weak, luck was for the animals and plants unaffected by the apocalypse, not for humans.

The small group picked up their pace as they walked toward the large store, the streets and parking lot still empty, save for the empty cars or the occasional rotting, dead walker. It was quiet except for the whistle of wind and the whip of an old flag high on it's pole. It was tattered and torn and Daryl couldn't help but to think of a simpler time when things seemed so much worse.

They were silent as they walked closer to the store, the inside only lit by the sparse sky lights on the ceiling. "Still got them candles?" He whispered to the blonde. Beth nodded and silently pulled the three out, trying not to think of the coincidence of it before passing one to the others. Daryl lit them and glanced toward the darkened doorway once more. "Alright, we head straight for the huntin' gear, find what we gotta get and get out. If we got time and there ain't a lot'a walkers in there we'll grab some food," _if there is any_, he added the last bit in his head.

It took a bit of time for the eyes of the group to adjust to the very dim lighting inside and when they did they saw what they would have expected. The floor was littered with old wrappers and containers, the shelves were looted of their products, some people at the beginning of the looting riots had spray painted things on the walls. Truthfully, Daryl didn't care what the front of the store looked like. He didn't care for the health care products and vitamins, the dog food, greeting cards, jewelry or even the clothes that were missing or scattered about. He considered a stop at the Pharmacy in case there were anything of use, but didn't count much on it.

All he really cared about was that there were bolts for his crossbow and maybe even some new knives. They moved almost silently down the aisle between the greeting cards and bedding toward the back of the store. Most of the shelves were still stocked in the hardware, house ware and electronics sections. After all, an apocalypse didn't have much need for those things without running water, electricity and gas.

They passed silently by automotive without incident. "It's almost too quiet," Carol murmured. Beth hummed her acknowledgment and shifted her position. Daryl had flanked her right side with Carol on her left, both of them keeping an eye on their backs as they walked, but as they drew closer to their destination the girl switched places with Daryl. He would better know what they were looking for and exactly where to find it, she was just on alert.

Several handguns still rested within the glass cases, bullets would be locked in the cabinets beneath. Daryl contemplated, for only the smallest of moments, grabbing a gun or two and a couple cases of ammo, but knew that they didn't need the extra weight. His dark eyes darted over the high shelves behind the counter until they landed on precisely what they'd entered the store for. Two large cylindrical plastic tubes stuffed with neon green bolts. Both looked to contain about 30 bolts, which would be more than enough to get them by for a while.. and have some to spare.

He climbed quietly onto the glass case, placing the majority of his weight on the edges to keep it from shattering and leaned across to grab the first off the rack. As he pulled the first down an unsettling sound reached his ears. His gaze snapped to the women below who appeared to be on alert for anything but yet didn't appear to have heard anything.

His brows furrowed as he shifted his gaze around the dimly lit store, searching for the sound. Roughly 30 yards down the large aisle he saw a figure move slowly, then freeze in place. Another glance to the girls told him they hadn't noticed the movement. Daryl turned and quickly yanked the other tube from the rack. Sadly he moved just a little too fast and the metal rod that had once held the tubes up in place yanked from the shelf wall and clattered noisily to the tiled floor.

With a soft gasp he turned back toward the silhouette in the distance as it jerked in response to the noise before it began it's shuffling walk toward them. "Time to go," he whispered as more figures appeared around the other. He dropped quickly to the floor and shouldered the small straps around the tubes of bolts. "Now." He ordered as both women took a look around to see what he'd seen moments before.

Great, now not only did they have to risk running through the abandon store in the darkness, but they had to do it while avoiding walkers that were steadily advancing. Could today get worse? Daryl shuddered at the answer to the question.

**Oh no, trapped in a store with walkers closing in? What are our fine warriors going to do? What is Beth to think of the return of Carol? What could it mean for her and Daryl, find out in 'Guts', the next episode!**


	9. Guts

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I'm getting into a bad habit of ending on cliffhanger's, aren't I? I'm sorry, folks, I just have a flair for drama, it seems. I do hope everyone is enjoying where the story is now and I promise we'll have more Bethyl lovin' soon enough. Also, I know I ended the last with a weird little rant. I was tired, don't hold it against me! And another note, I have already responded to a lot of the reviews posted, I do plan on continuing to respond to the reviews of those with accounts. Should you have questions, feel free to send them my way and so long as they don't give too much away I might answer! Thanks for reading!**

–

Daryl had the longest legs which meant that he could run faster than either of the girls, but he was also weighted down by his pack and the two tubes of bolts that they had so desperately needed. Carol was next in line to be the fastest runner and she easily took on the role of the leader while Beth lingered just behind Daryl. Not because she'd wanted to, but because she was just a hair slower. Her pale eyes darted around to the walkers that were moving between shelves and aisles to get to the clatter they'd heard before and now toward the running footfalls of the three.

Carol dispatched the first walker that got in her path with ease, swinging her ax with a low grunt of exertion. Daryl stabbed the first he'd run into with his hunting knife and yanked it back out without breaking stride. Beth had the sheer luck of avoiding the first couple walkers that came her way.

The closer the group got to the exit the more they realized they weren't getting out of it as easily as they'd gotten in. Either the walkers had been concealed in the dark and had only begun advancing with the noise they'd made at the back of the store or the walkers had seen them enter and had followed in their quest for food, the only thing their brains seemed to think about anymore.

There came to be two options for the trio; either attempt to get into the pharmacy as the walkers would have a harder time climbing up and onto the counter, but there was no other way out once they were there. Or they could attempt to back track and get to the storeroom where Daryl was sure there would be an emergency exit or even a shipping/receiving door that they would be able to make an escape out of. The biggest problem with turning around would, again, be two things; there was the chance that there were even more walkers lurking within the darkness of the storeroom and the large chance that they could get lost within the storeroom.

In the end he was going to leave it up to Carol as the woman was taking the lead for them. He marveled at the way the silver-haired woman easily took out another two walkers with her ax and didn't even have to stop running. She was a much different woman from the Carol he'd met when all of this had started. She was stronger and much more confident, not only in the way she carried herself but in her abilities.

Beth was much the same. He heard a grunt of effort behind him and glanced back long enough to see the slender blonde ripping her hatchet from the broken skull of a walker before it crumpled to the floor. The older woman was leading them toward the front exit and just by the quick count Daryl did there were at least fifteen walking toward them from the blinding light from outside. That wasn't counting the ones closing in on either side. The woman surprised him by making a sharp left near the end of the aisle, darting toward Gardening. He'd completely forgotten that there was usually an exit there as well.

He paused long enough to drive his hunting knife upward through the jaw of a walker that had reached out for him, then ripped it back out in a spurt of dead blood. Beth was right behind him, taking out whatever came in her path with a sharp swing of her hatchet. Once he was certain he'd seen the girl wielding not only the hatchet but her hunting knife too. He gained a new found respect for her as they rushed toward the soft light streaming through the windows in the gardening section.

Daryl nearly slammed into Carol as the woman came to a sudden stop about three feet inside of the wide door. The sight that greeted them wasn't a welcome one. The sliding door that had been to the right beyond the cash registers had been broken out a long time ago and walkers milled about between the parking lot and the interior of the store.

Unfortunately that meant that there were more walkers in here than any of them would have liked and there were at least thirty between themselves and the safety of outside. It was too late to turn around, though. His dark eyes glanced rapidly around before Beth spoke. "We need to get higher." She stated and without waiting for confirmation from the others the blonde quickly rushed to a shelving unit and began scaling upward. Daryl followed her movement with his eyes, spotting that if they were lucky enough they could climb high enough and far down enough on the shelf until they could reach the low nook near the ceiling. It looked big enough that a small group of people could rest there for a time.

He hoped that they would be able to get up there and settle there long enough for the walkers to get distracted by something else. Without further hesitation he shoved Carol forward. She climbed quickly up the shelf after Beth, who'd already made it to the top. The little blonde had a fear of heights and being this far off the floor was enough to make her knees tremble but she pushed herself forward because she knew that there would be others following and she needed to get a move on.

With her arms outstretched for balance Beth walked as fast as was safe on the slightly rocky shelf. Carol quickly followed behind and Daryl did the best he could to keep his balance with his heavier frame and the load on his shoulders. If it weren't for the fact they needed the bolts he'd have dropped them already and if it weren't for the food in his pack he would have ditched it as well, but they needed both to survive.

"Come on, Beth, up!" He demanded as the girl had reached the far wall and appeared to have frozen.

"I can't reach," she called back and Daryl could hear the panic rising in her voice.

"Jump." Carol stated from behind the girl and Beth quickly shook her head.

"If I miss and come down on the shelf, it'll collapse." She fretted and looked up. The beam she needed to grab a hold of was close to two feet above her head. Daryl could easily reach without jumping too much, Carol probably could too, but Beth was shorter and would likely need a boost. Problem with that was that it would put too much weight in one location it could easily result in the whole shelf crashing down.

"Come on, girl, this ain't gonna hold us much longer..." Daryl called, already feeling a faint sway in the metal as the walkers closed in on either side.

"Give me your pack." Carol said suddenly causing Beth to frown in confusion but took it off anyway and passed it back to the elder woman. Carol settled the pack between her legs so that she could keep her balance before looking to the blonde. "You gotta jump now, Beth. You've got nothing but your own weight."

Beth hesitated, taking rapid shallow breaths that made Daryl paranoid she would pass out. After only a couple of seconds, that felt like minutes with the undead groaning and rasping around them and the sway in the metal under his feet, the girl bent her knees and swung her arms to give herself a little more momentum. For the briefest of moments Daryl envisioned her not making it, falling just a little too short and crashing into the walkers below. It would be her certain death because there would be no possible way to save her. The slap of sweaty skin against cold metal jerked him back to reality as the girl gripped onto the I-beam with a panting breath. It took her a moment or two to swing herself into a sitting position on the beam and once she had Carol tossed her pack up.

The blonde twisted awkwardly to catch it and nearly slipped off the beam, but luckily managed to hold on long enough to pull the pack up. After strapping it to her back the blonde began making her way toward the small nook by the ceiling, her gaze focused solely on Daryl as he wobbled unsteadily. The walkers below were making it difficult to keep his balance. Every time one of them pushed against the shelf it caused it to rock. "Go!" He yelled at Carol. The woman didn't need further incentive as she jumped, barely moving the metal under her feet, and grasped the beam above her head.

Carol leaned over and reached out her hand for Daryl, but the male quickly passed her one of the two tubes filled with bolts. She rolled her eyes and pulled it up beside her, then reached again. Once more he passed a tube up rather than his hand. He knew that he'd never be able to grasp the beam while trying to hold onto those and they needed them too much.

Once Carol had both and had scooted back on the beam Daryl angled himself to make the leap. Just as he bent his knees the shelf wobbled drastically causing him to nearly topple over. He heard a gasp from Beth and pushed passed the desperate sound to pull himself upward. With a low grunt he jumped and grabbed onto the edges of the beam in time to hear the crash of the metal as the shelf began to collapse. While he gripped onto the metal he knew that if he slipped it was over. The shelf had given way to the walkers as they trampled it in their attempt to get to the fresh human meat above.

As soon as his right hand latched onto the metal a white hot pain shot between his eyes as the wound in his arm tore wide open. He could almost smell the metallic blood as it began to seep. "Son of a bitch," he groaned, putting more weight onto his left arm when he felt the right begin to give out.

Carol pushed the tubes of bolts behind her and scooted closer to where Daryl's hands white-knuckled the metal and without thinking about it she reached for his right wrist. "What's going on, Daryl?" She asked while pulling in the attempt to get him up.

"He got shot!" Beth called from her place at the nook. She'd already tossed her pack up into it and was currently standing with her back against the wall and her feet planted on the beam in case she had to make the snap decision to run forward.

"And I'm only now hearing about it?" Carol snapped as she pulled again earning a pained groan from the brunette as he felt the scab that had formed on top of the wound rip itself apart.

"Can you bitch about that later?" He called as he reinforced his grip with his left hand and clutched her arm with his right. Carol wrapped her legs as tightly around the beam as she could and flattened herself to tuck her hands under his arm, pulling from his armpit this time.

Daryl shifted his grip when he was able to from Carol's hand to the beam, painfully hauling himself up. When his rear was safely on the metal he panted quietly and cursed at the blood seeping through his clothes. He leaned back slightly on his pack and cradled his arm to his chest with a heavy breath, eyes closed lightly.

Below the walkers had become agitated, more so than they'd been a few minutes before and Daryl could only attribute it to the scent of blood filling the air. Unless they could control the bleeding and get rid of his blood stained clothes the walkers would never leave them be.

"Come on, Daryl, I need to look at that." Beth called with worry in her tone.

The sound caused his eyelids to flutter open. He nodded softly before scooting himself across the beam behind Carol. His movements were slower than hers as he chose to keep his injured arm just a little closer to his chest rather than use it to propel his movement. At the edge of the beam Carol quickly passed the bolts to Beth, who had already climbed into the nook above.

Daryl was helped to his feet by both women, even though it put a small dent in his masculine pride, and helped into the space. The redneck could easily ignore the hit to his pride since he was still alive. After heaving himself up into the space he ripped the pack from his back and dropped onto the cool concrete, panting heavily.

"Let me see," Beth commanded as she settled beside him, her pale eyes dancing over his face. Daryl nodded softly and pushed himself to sit back up while the blonde dug through the packs until she'd found the remaining few strips of the shirt she'd cut days ago. There were two left, two that she'd hoped would be good for a separate injury, but it seemed as though they would have to use them now. She helped him to pull the layers of clothing he'd put on to keep warm over his head. The girl contemplated trying to salvage them, but the smell of the blood already soaked within was only going to attract the walkers. Any article of clothing that was blood soaked was tossed over the side to the undead below who rasped and groaned as if they'd barely noticed.

It didn't take very long for the blonde to tend to the wound, wrapping it tightly in one of the few shreds of cloth they had left. Daryl noticed the way her fingers shook and the quick glances she shot toward Carol and frowned. The silver-haired woman sat with her back to them, her legs hung over the edge as she surveyed the horde of walkers clustered below. When he shifted his gaze back to the girl he smiled tenderly. "You okay?" He asked quietly. Beth nodded sharply and forced a smile but said nothing. "You sure?"

"No.." She breathed as she wiped her hands on her jeans to clear the blood off of them. "Being up this high freaks me out."

"That's all?"

Her slender shoulders rose and fell in response as she allowed her pale eyes to dance around the dimly lit room.

"Hey." His voice drew her attention back to his face, frowning. Before she had the chance to react he'd leaned in and kissed her gently, his fingers cradling her cheek.

When he pulled away a faint smile lingered around the corners of her mouth, "what was that for?"

Daryl shrugged slightly as if that were a good answer. He couldn't help but to grin a little as she smiled widely in return. Doubtful that it would quell her young mind of his feelings between she and Carol but talking about things like that wasn't really his strong suit. He hoped that it would at least give her a little bit of assurance.

"You okay?" She asked now.

"I'm alright." He promised. Just as the male opened his mouth to say something more Carol interrupted.

"I doubt we're going to get out that way." She murmured, indicating the door. While the walkers were settling themselves there were still too many crammed into the space to allow the small group to make it out safely.

Daryl scooted a little closer to the edge so that he could get a better picture of what the woman was seeing while Beth hung back. She'd trust their instincts on that.

"Unless we found some way to clear them out, we're going to have to look for an alternative." Carol was saying as Beth let her gaze wander.

"Ain't no way to clear 'em out, though." Daryl stated and frowned as he surveyed the group clustered below. Even if he loaded the cross bow repeatedly there weren't enough bolts to take them all out. Even if there were enough there was no way for them to get back down safely now that the shelf under the beam they'd used had collapsed.

"So then we're going to need to find an alternative." Carol replied.

"Like... up?" Beth swallowed hard as both of her elders gaze shifted their gaze back to her. Without saying more she raised a hand and pointed toward the sky lights that were spaced out along the ceiling of the building. Several of the beams that crisscrossed and ran a few feet lower than the ceiling crossed directly under these sky lights. The idea of crawling along one of those beams terrified the hell out of her, but it had to be done.

"Good thinkin', Beth." Daryl praised as he began mapping out a course in his head.

"We should probably rest a little bit first.." Beth suggested, looking at Daryl's arm pointedly.

He glanced at it for a moment and shook his head quickly while protesting. "We're burnin' daylight."

"Oh, it can't be more than noon anyway." Carol countered, quickly taking the young blonde's side. "We'll be fine with a quick break."

His eyes darted between the woman before rolling upward. The old 'two against one' thing. He mumbled something under his breath that neither woman heard before leaning back against his pack and closing his eyes so that he could '_rest_'.

Daryl laid there for a few minutes before reaching out his hand for Beth as she stared toward the edge with worry. The poor girl was terrified of being this high up and he knew it. While he couldn't get her down right now, he could at least comfort her. It was all that he could do right now. Hopefully it would be enough.

**Reviews? I figured with all the cliffhangers I've give you lately it's nice to end on a slightly better note. Of course, there's still a lot that could happen, stay tuned.**


	10. Pretty Much Dead Already

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language, Violence**

**Authors Note: This 'stay tuned' thing is .. actually becoming a thing and I'm sorry for that. -laughs- Also, I need to give a huge, gigantic thank you to CherryMountain for helping to make this next chapter all that it is. I was beginning to suffer a tad bit of writers block from the swell of ideas floating through my head, but she helped calm them down enough to get this chapter going. Thank you, very much.**

–

Seven months. She had waited seven months to see him and it was only to find that he was with Beth Greene of all people. Beth! There was some part of her that knew she would have been able to cope with seeing him cozied up to Michonne, but Beth? Carol had felt herself falling for the handsome man before her husband was even dead. Daryl had been there, he'd been a strong rock for her to lean against and goodness knew he was the ear for her to rant into when things weren't going right.

Carol couldn't believe her eyes when she'd finally been reunited with Daryl, only to know that he was falling for the little blonde. BETH! She was a child for God's sake. Of course, she knew that Beth was at least eighteen, or somewhere around it, but Daryl was older than her by nearly double her life. What he could see in the girl she couldn't understand.

All of her advice to him earlier made her scowl at herself. She'd basically told him to go to the girl, to comfort her and be with her. He was supposed to want _her_. Her right hand rose to brush back through her short hair, pushing it away from her face as she turned her gaze over toward the couple. When Daryl had laid down he'd closed his eyes for a few moments before reaching out for Beth's hand. The little blonde had smiled and gladly scooted closer, gently squeezing his hand in her own.

She had honestly never gotten nauseous from watching those new-to-love couples before, but watching the way Beth lit up as Daryl squeezed her hand in return made her stomach churn. Watching the little smirk that played across his lips as Beth shifted closer and brushed her fingers through his scraggly, dark hair made it even worse.

It got so bad that she actually pushed herself to the very edge of the nook and leaned over to look at the thirty foot drop to the cold floor and swarm of walkers. Anything to get away from the love-sickness that occurred when she watched the two. She easily recalled all of her flirty comments to the redneck and all of his in return. Carol had been certain that he had been falling for _her_! And now, after all this time, she instead found him happily alone with Beth. She could have dealt with knowing that he was alone with the girl, but to know that he was falling for her.

To know that he had actually fallen for the girl. In all the time that she had known Daryl she had never seen him allow someone so close, she'd never seen him initiate contact like he'd done with the blonde. She'd never seen his face light up when he talked about a girl. That should have been her, not some wet behind the ears child. After close to an hour her back hurt from sitting on the concrete and she was beginning to shiver in the darkness of the room.

Carol pushed herself back away from the edge and looked toward Daryl, who appeared half-asleep. Beth smiled slightly as she glanced up at her and Carol noted, as she had since she'd come across them at the pawn shop, that Beth seemed slightly nervous around her. Good. The girl needed to feel it. Daryl would realize that Beth wasn't what he wanted. Some immature little girl with some fairy tale notion in all of this.

No, Daryl needed a woman who would stop at nothing to keep herself and him safe. From anything. She forced a smile that looked genuine enough in the girls direction before reaching out to pat Daryl's leg. "We better get a move on before we all get too stiff to do much of anything." She stated, commenting on the cold of the room.

Daryl's eyes snapped open and he nodded softly in response. Releasing the blonde's hand he quickly pulled himself up and grasped at his back pack. Beth had taken the liberty to shove most of the bolts for his crossbow into his bag, leaving it partially unzipped at the top for easy access, the rest were loaded into his bow or rolled into her blanket and strapped to her backpack.

If anything, Carol had to admit that the girl was smart. She'd gotten stronger in the time she'd been with Daryl. While she felt badly that the poor girl's father had died and she was separated from the people she cared for, that emotion didn't stretch very far. After all, the little blonde had been able to be with Daryl for the last six and a half months. And somehow the girl had managed to get him wrapped around her little finger, even if neither of them truly saw it. Carol did, and it was enough to make her completely sick.

Her pale eyes danced over the male for a moment before turning toward the beams they would need to cross. "I figure if we follow this one far enough we'll cross under one of the sky lights." She commented.

Beth nodded as she pulled her pack on and scooted herself a little closer to the edge. Almost instantly Carol felt the wheels in her head begin turning. Things could turn sour or work out perfectly all in a matter of seconds.

"Alright, Beth how 'bout.."

"I don't want to go first." The girl interrupted him while quickly shaking her head. Beth obviously felt that she'd already taken the lead on something far more terrifying then she would have liked more than enough today.

"I'll go first," Carol suggested, "and Beth can go behind me." Her original plan was to allow Beth to go first and then stage an accident of the girl falling over the ledge. She'd pretend to be heroic and try to save her, but the girl would die and she'd be all that was left for Daryl. Now, she would need to come up with something different. Carol trusted herself to figure something out, though.

She sounded sincere enough that the two exchanged a look before nodding in agreement. After squaring herself away the silver-haired woman slipped off the edge and down onto the thin, yet durable, support beam that ran along the ceiling of the superstore. A few seconds later and she felt the vibrations in the metal as someone else dropped down onto the beam as she moved ahead. Her movements were fast enough to keep ahead of the others, yet slow enough that she appeared reassuring enough in case Beth needed the support.

Daryl dropped down next and together the three walked across the beam until the ceiling height changed. The Garden section had a much higher ceiling for some reason, just as the Automotive/Tire area did, but the rest seemed slightly shorter which meant the group couldn't walk across. She dropped down to straddle the beam, and glanced back to be sure the others did as well.

Beth was tensed as she gripped the sides of the beam, holding on for her life. She'd never seen someone so terrified of heights as she did the young blonde. Daryl scooted along behind her, muttering words of encouragement every time Beth seemed as if she were going to freeze up. If it were anyone else acting this way Carol was certain she would have seen it as endearing and romantic but since it was Daryl with someone other than herself she couldn't find any sort of pleasure in the sight.

Her gaze dipped over the side for a moment, watching the walkers shuffle about aimlessly with no idea that there were people above them. That was the way it needed to be if she and Daryl were going to get away from the superstore in one piece.

Having to scoot rather than walk made the process slower than she would have liked, but it also gave her the opportunity to think. Think about what she was going to do, about how she would play this off and maintain her innocence in Daryl's eyes. Unfortunately, she didn't know that Rick had told him the truth about she being the one to kill those two people at the prison. Even if she did, Carol had an excuse. The same she'd fed Rick. It was about protecting everyone else.

Sure, others had gotten sick, but at least they'd made it out. Better to sacrifice a few to save the whole lot. Farmers did it all the time with their crops or cattle, designers did it with their work, now was no different.

The first sky light they had come to was locked from the outside and the group had to pray that it wasn't like that with all of them. Of course, if they were there was always a chance that they could make enough noise on one end of the store to draw the walkers over and then clamber back across to the other and hopefully get out alive.

She could hear Beth's panicked breathing behind her as her legs hovered forty feet in the air. Carol knew that to fall meant death. If the impact didn't do it the walkers certainly would. Truthfull,y there were less below as they moved further across the store, but there wasn't much of anywhere to drop down, either. Their only hope was to find an open sky light.

The second and third were both locked as well and Carol was beginning to worry that they wouldn't find one to crawl through. As luck would have it, the fourth was open and she stood to push it open enough to peer out. They'd had the misfortune since all of this to think that there couldn't be walkers on rooftops and be completely wrong. Not this time. Carol didn't plan on her plan being thwarted by something so simple as a miscalculation in judgement.

When it all seemed clear enough she pushed the heavy plastic lid open to a rush of cool air and sunlight pouring in. Unfortunately the sudden light was enough to capture the walkers attention and she heard their moaning and groaning increase from below.

Placing her hands on the sides of the concrete roof Carol easily pulled herself up before looking around the rooftop. She needed to be sure that there weren't walkers up here before her attention went back to the hole. "Come on, Beth." She said tenderly while reaching a hand down for the shorter female.

Carol watched as Daryl's hands carefully gripped the blonde's waist to steady her as she stood and reached up. With her hands locked around the slender girl's wrist she heaved until Beth sat on the roof beside her. Before Daryl had the chance to stand, Carol quickly closed the lid and slid the latch shut to lock it.

As her gaze turned back toward Beth she spotted the utter confusion on the blonde's face. "Carol?" She spoke the name slowly as she pushed herself to stand. Naturally the little blonde didn't take up any sort of defense, she thought the elder woman was her friend, someone she could rely on.

"We need to have a talk.. without Daryl." The woman responded with a gentle smile pulling on her lips.

"But.. he.. can't it wait?!" Beth responded, sounding irritated. A thunk behind Carol told her that Daryl was standing up inside of the space, banging on the skylight and wondering why it suddenly wouldn't open.

"No.. I don't think it should wait. Daryl will be fine if we just have a quick talk." Carol stated as she smiled again.

"He could _fall!_" Beth snapped, thinking of his injured arm. If he slipped it would be the end of Daryl Dixon and that obviously upset the girl far more than Carol would have realized previously.

"He'll be fine. Daryl is smart enough to wait it out.." _or search for another exit_, she finished in her head, which meant that she needed to take care of business quickly. "Beth, we need to have a talk."

"You said that already, open the damn hatch." The girl demanded with more guts than Carol ever would have given her credit for.

"In due time." Carol ran a hand back through her hair before sighing quietly. "Look, you've got to know that this is nothing against you. I like you, Beth, you're a sweet kid.. but you're a kid. You should be off with Maggie or Carl, not here with him."

"What are you talking about, Carol?" The blonde asked in confusion, her gaze darting toward the hatch once again as Daryl thunked his arm against it.

"How did you do it?" She asked in return.

"Do what?"

"Make him fall for you?"

"What?" Beth looked even more confused as her brows furrowed. A hand rose to knock the loose blonde locks that had escaped her pony tail back behind her ear before the wind blew it out again.

A laugh fell from the elder woman's lips as she stared back, "you don't even know? That man has never looked at anyone else the way he's looked at you in all the time I've known him. Don't tell me you didn't see it?"

Beth stared in concern toward the woman. Of course, the change between the way Daryl looked at her now and the way he'd looked at her back at the prison had been so subtle she'd never really put much thought into it. Would she say that he'd fallen for her? No, not really. Perhaps a really strong 'like' but Beth hadn't put any consideration into 'love'.

"I didn't _do_ anything, Carol. I don't know what you're talking about."

"It doesn't matter. He'll be stricken by your death and he'll come to me. I'll be the one to comfort him and.."

"My death?" Beth interrupted in shock. That was a twist she hadn't expected to hear. The blonde took a step back in the attempt to put some distance between her and the older woman. "Daryl?" She called with only a flicker of a glance toward the sky light lid before her gaze turned solely on Carol. "Carol, come on.. you.. you wouldn't _kill_ me, would you?"

"I think you underestimate me, dear." Carol said in a surprisingly sweet voice for the statement she'd just made. "I don't have much time, either. Daryl will come up or really start to worry here in a couple of minutes."

"So.. what's your plan?" Beth asked while taking another step back.

"Simple, push you off the roof into the walkers. I'll tell Daryl that we closed it because there were walkers up here and we were trying to keep him safe, but lost you in the process. He'll mourn you for a little while, but he'll move on."

"With you?" The young blonde sounded shocked.

"No, with the Pope." Her tone sarcastic as she watched the girl step dangerously close to the edge. A smirk tugged on her lips as she took another step closer causing Beth's panicked expression to begin turning toward full blown hysteria. She was dangerously close to begging for her life and Carol actually loved the idea. "I mean, unless you want to just.. go?"

"Go?" Beth asked while glancing backward and gasping quietly at the realization that she were only about two yards from the edge and a very, very long drop to the ground below.

"Climb down the ladder, run and never look back. Save me the trouble." Carol shrugged as she spoke and Beth was horrified at the realization that the woman was remorseless at the thought of getting rid of her.

She shook her head quickly and glanced around as if she could find another escape. It seemed as if her options were run off alone or take the drop into the empty parking lot. Finally she nodded, "okay.. I.. I'll go." Beth had an idea of her own and needed to get away from the ledge to put it in motion.

Carol let her gaze drift from the blonde for only a moment, looking to the left before right back to the blonde. "Ladder's over there." She pointed and locked her gaze on the blonde's face.

Beth nodded and looked around in a slight panic before nodding and turning toward the ladder. "Just.. tell Daryl.." the girl stopped and began to turn back toward Carol. Before she had the chance to say anything more Carol's arm's wrapped around her from behind and she felt cool, sharp metal press against her throat.

"Unfortunately, Beth, I'll need a body to show him." The elder woman murmured dangerously in her ear.

**Reviews? I apologize for the cliffhanger here.. It was a necessary evil. I'm sorry to all the Caryl shippers as well..**


	11. Too Far Gone

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language, Violence**

**Authors Note: I'm still giving credit to CherryMountain here because without her help the last chapter and the most current would not be possible.**

**I know that many of you are upset with my telling of Carol's actions. I should not have to defend my writing, but I am going to say this: To me, this isn't completely out of character for Carol. She's already shown that she can be brutal/ruthless by killing the people at the prison and in my assumption of Carol she loves Daryl. She's also been alone for six months, it's highly probable that her mind has begun to unravel. I apologize to anyone who did not like it, but there's nothing to be done about it.**

–

"HEY!" Daryl called when the sky light window slammed shut before he heard the metallic scrape of the lock engaging. It didn't make a whole mess of sense to have the lock on the outside, but he didn't have much room to complain about it, honestly. Not now at the end of everything.

He heard a voice outside and paused to lean a little closer.

"_We need to have a talk.. without Daryl."_ He instantly recognized the voice and furrowed his brows. "HEY!" He yelled again. It didn't seem as though they could hear him, or just weren't listening. He heard Beth mumble something from a little further away and quickly raised his good arm to bang against the plastic window. He heard Beth's voice jump higher as she mentioned him falling and frowned darkly with a half-glance toward the ground. A shiver ran up his spine at the walkers groaning below at the noise coming from their group.

"_He'll be fine. Daryl is smart enough to wait it out.." _ He heard Carol say and frowned to himself while glancing around. Going back would be pointless, none of those opened.. unless Carol was lying about that. He wasn't sure he didn't want to trust her. Sure, Rick had told him that Carol had burned those two people back at the prison and while he'd been sure he believed it, he hadn't wanted to. Carol was his friend and the woman wasn't capable of that. But now..

Listening to her voice as she spoke with Beth made him question everything about the silver-haired woman. _"You should be off with Maggie or Carl, not here with him."_ Carol said to Beth and he quickly reached up to rap against the plastic again, this time in warning to Beth while shouting, "CAROL!"

When he received no sort of response he dropped low onto the beam again. Unlike when they'd moved to reach this skylight Daryl didn't scoot along on his bottom, that was too time consuming and time wasn't something he could spare right now. Not when Carol was on her 'for the good of' spiel. If the elder woman's previous actions were an indicator she had no trouble killing someone if she thought it was best. Which meant Beth was in danger. That wasn't something he could risk.

He felt his pack scrape against the ceiling as he crouched low and walked as fast as he could along the beam with his fingers trailing the metal in case he needed to balance himself. If he didn't get there quickly enough Beth was dead.. which meant he had to run. One foot rapidly in front of the other with as much precision and caution as he could until he reached the next skylight in line. It was locked tightly and he felt his chest begin to constrict painfully at the worry that began running through him.

Without taking a moment to think about that worry he quickly dropped again and made a beeline for the next in line. He didn't need to worry about this one being unlocked because the plastic had been broken out by something or someone at some point in the past. Good thing too, because the hatch was locked. With a low groan he quickly yanked the crossbow off and shoved it up through the opening, then pulled his pack off and did the same before gripping the edges and pulling himself up, painfully, through the narrow opening.

The ache in his arm increased rapidly but Daryl wasn't going to ease up yet, he couldn't. His dark blue eyes quickly darted until he caught sight of Beth with her back to the open air and Carol standing only a few feet away. Without a word he yanked the crossbow from the ground beside his pack and quickly hefted it into place, glad for the bolt he'd loaded earlier.

Beth began to walk away from Carol and the woman didn't hesitate before yanking her back and grasping her by the waist. When he saw the flash of metal Daryl swallowed hard, his mouth suddenly dry. "Carol!" He shouted, keeping a tight hold on the crossbow as he ran as fast as he safely could toward the women. "CAROL!" He shouted again when the older woman froze.

Her plan was ruined, completely and utterly ruined by the untimely arrival of the redneck, but he didn't give a damn. "Let her go, Carol." He commanded when he was only ten feet away.

Carol shifted and pulled the blonde with her as she turned around. Her pale eyes connected with Daryl's before a smirk tugged on her lips. "You don't want her, Daryl. You want someone self sufficient. You want someone who can survive _with_ you, not because of you."

"Dammit Carol! Let 'er go!" He demanded a little louder, pointedly aiming the crossbow at her head. "Don't make me.."

"You wouldn't shoot me." The woman commented, tightening her grip on the sharp hunting knife pressed against Beth's throat. The girl twitched just enough that the blade dug into her throat, drawing blood. Instantly, the blonde went still in Carol's arms, closing her eyes as she tried to regain her breathing–which had gone completely out of control.

"Don't.. Carol, just.. let 'er go." He commanded, faltering when he saw the droplets of blood forming around the sharp blade at her pale throat. "Carol, I swear on everything I will kill you." He threatened, his voice hardening and his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"You'd actually pull the trigger?" Carol asked with an arch in her brow.

"Just give me a reason.. I know what you did back at the prison.." He stated, eyes locked on her pretty face. "Rick told me."

"Rick's a liar!" Carol snapped back.

Daryl quickly shook his head, "'keep everyone from gettin' sick.'" He quoted Rick and shifted his sight for only a moment toward the blonde who remained rigid in Carol's hold. "You killed those people back at the prison, but you ain't gonna do it here. Let. Her. Go." He snapped and raised the crossbow just a little higher.

"I do and what?"

"You walk away and never come back. I see you again and I'll put a knife in your fuckin' heart quicker'n'you can blink. Don't make me shoot you, Carol. Let her go." He stated without taking his gaze off of the woman. He easily could have put the bolt in her head but, at the same time, he couldn't do it. He still cared for Carol. Now, if she attempted to dig that blade any further he'd have no trouble pulling the trigger and watching her die..

Carol murmured something to Beth that he couldn't hear before she ripped the blade away from the girls throat and shoved her forward. She sheathed the knife and put her hands in the air while taking slow steps backward.

As soon as the blonde was free he'd rushed forward and wrapped an arm around her without taking the crossbow off of Carol. It hurt him more than he allowed to show to know that the one person he'd trusted above all others when everything had gone to hell was the one person he should have kept away from. What was done was done, though, right? Beth was safe and that was all that mattered right now.

He watched Carol until she disappeared down the ladder toward the ground. He kept the weapon trained on the spot for several minutes after while Beth clung to his chest, panting heavily. When he felt it was safe he dropped the weapon and wrapped both arms protectively around her slender waist to clutch her tightly to his chest.

The two held onto one another for only a couple of moments before Daryl's hands shifted to grasp her cheeks, tipping her face toward his. "You okay?"

Instead of a response the girl wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him quickly. When it broke only seconds later and her head touched his chest he dropped his arms back to her waist and just held her until they'd both calmed down.

"We gotta go." He told her, wanting to get away from this place if only for the walkers down below and the fact that Carol knew where they were. He wondered, however briefly, why he hadn't just fired the bolt into her skull. He should have.

Beth said nothing, but nodded softly. He slipped out of her grip only long enough to jog back to his pack and quickly heft it onto his back. When he stepped back up to the girl his arm moved to wind around her waist but she stopped him by reaching for his injured arm, the sleeve of which was soaked with blood. "It broke open again.." She murmured.

"Hmm? Yeah, tryin'ta get up here quick." He said with a smile that faded too fast. Beth couldn't help the gentle smile that touched her lips as she nodded in acknowledgment. Daryl had risked injury to himself to get up here and save her from someone they'd thought was a friend. Daryl had turned that 'friend' away forever. For her. The sentiment was nice, actually, a lot better than she ever would have thought.

Beth placed her palm over the wound and frowned darkly, "you didn't have to do that."

"No? It sure as hell looked like you needed my help." He countered.

"I had a plan." The girl smiled faintly in response as her pale eyes danced over his face. Truthfully she had had a plan, but Daryl's heroics had been perfect. Especially since she hadn't been sure of how well her plan would have worked.

"Didn't look like much'a one from where I was standin'," He quipped, earning a roll of the girls eyes. With his arm around her slender waist Daryl led the girl toward the ladder. After a survey of the side of the building he determined it was safe enough for them to move down. Carol was no where in sight and there was only one walker wandering about the parking lot.

Beth took the crossbow from him and smirked at the look on his face. "You'll be lucky to climb down that ladder without falling if you _don't_ have this." She commented before hauling herself up onto the side of the building. Without another word the blonde began her descent toward the cool cement below. Daryl waited only a few more moments before following behind, ignoring the pain in his arm every time he put weight on it. Between his worry of falling due to the pain and the actual pain it seemed to take hours to climb down the ladder when it only took about ten minutes before his feet were square on the ground beside the blonde.

She gently grasped his hand and gave it a tug. "We should get out of here." The girl told him as she pulled him closer. Daryl didn't need any more hinting, not with all the walkers on the other side of the cement wall. They were just a bit too close for comfort, honestly there were just too many of them to mess around with. He squeezed the girls hand softly as they jogged away from the superstore and back toward the main road.

When they were finally able to slow down again the two remained silent for several minutes before Beth's voice broke the silence. "Why didn't you tell me?" She asked in her soft voice.

"'Bout what?" He asked with a glance toward her.

"Carol?" Her tone had become even quieter as she stared up at him while they walked.

He shrugged and stayed silent for a short time. Beth didn't push for the answer, knowing that if she were patient he would fill her in soon enough. It had worked before and she hoped it would this time around. If not then it wasn't difficult to prod at him. The young blonde pulled her gaze from his face long enough to take in their surroundings before turning back to him. Daryl adamantly kept his focus anywhere else for the time being. Finally, he spoke as he lead them toward the edge of town, going straight at the intersection with the mall instead of taking the right that would lead them back to the house they'd spent the last night in.

He already knew what was back there, didn't need to see it again. No, they needed to head toward what they didn't know right now. Away from the walkers, away from the town, toward someplace without so much crap where they could take a couple days to rest. With a deep inhale he allowed his gaze to rest on the horizon. "I wasn't sure she'd done it."

"Why?" Beth asked suddenly.

"Because it's Carol..." he replied and shook his head gently. "I didn't wanna believe she'd just kill two people like that.."

"But?"

Again, he shrugged and fell silent. Beth knew there was something hidden behind the action and frowned softly.

"What?"

"Nothin'." He said and flashed a smile her way. Beth didn't believe him for a moment but figured there would be a better time to pester an answer out of him than while they were walking down the street where any number of dangers could be lurking around the corner.

She had to wonder how they'd survived almost six months without incident and all of a sudden everything was turning to hell. Daryl didn't need to wonder it, things were looking up so they had to turn to shit. That was the way of his life. Always had been, always would be.

–

It was nearly sun down when they found the next place to bunker down for the night. An old church on the outskirts of town that looked virtually untouched. No broken windows, the door was in one piece, the pews inside were still in place. Even the rows of candles still lined the far wall. Of course none were lit, but it was just the fact that they were still there instead of being another thing that had been looted in the end.

Beth smiled at the faint sense of hope this gave her before turning that smile up toward Daryl. After a quick sweep of the building turned up clean the two closed every door they could between the outside and the back room they chose to rest in. It looked as if it had once belonged to the priest who had worked here but it could have belonged to anyone over the two years since the fall. Beth dropped her pack on the floor and pulled the blankets out to drape them over the twin bed against the wall.

She turned toward Daryl, who'd been blocking the door with the thick oak desk last she'd looked, only to find him standing within a couple of feet from her, watching her closely. "What?" She asked with a hint of confusion. Daryl found himself unable to say much of anything while looking at the little blonde.

Chewing at her lower lip Beth stepped forward, her gaze moving slowly over his face, tracing his every feature. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you.." He stated and for a moment Beth had to sift through their more recent conversations to try and figure out what the hell he was apologizing for.

She shook her head lightly and waved a hand, "don't worry about it, Daryl." She replied softly.

"Nah, com'on, if I'd'a told you, you'd'a been a little more careful." He retorted with a heavy frown.

"Would it have mattered? Carol acted like our friend.. we both trusted her, even if I would have been on my guard around her I still wouldn't have thought that she would hurt _me_."

Daryl frowned softly and nodded, assuming she was probably right. He said nothing as he stepped closer to her and draped his arms around her waist in what started as a slow touch and quickly turned into him clutching her to his chest in a bear hug. When the blonde felt like her lungs would explode she tapped the back of his head. "Can't breathe." She sucked in a sharp breath as he released her and shifted his gaze to hers.

His mouth dropped open for a split second before snapping closed with a hint of awkwardness and shyness about him that Beth had never really seen before. Her brows scrunched up in curiosity as she waited for him to continue. When he didn't seem able to she pressed, "what?"

"Nothin'." He said again and shook his head.

"Don't 'nothin' me, Daryl Dixon. What?" She asked with a smile forming around her lips.

Daryl chewed lightly at the inside of his lip while shrugging his shoulders. Naturally, there were a thousand things he _wanted_ to say but couldn't figure out how to put any of them into words. He'd never really been all that great with words and it was far more likely that whatever he would say would come out wrong.

Instead of making the attempt to say anything he'd really wanted to say to the girl he asked, "what was your plan?" The sudden question obviously threw the girl for a moment as she looked up at him. "Up on that roof, you said you had a plan."

"Oh! Yeah, well, I knew she wasn't going to just let me walk away, no matter what she said, so I figured after she got a hold of me I'd take her out.." she finished in a murmur.

"Mm.. how'd ya think you were gonna do that?" He asked now while digging through their bags for something to eat.

"Well, there was no way I'd get my hatchet out, but the pocket knife you'd given me was still in my pocket and I'd almost had it out when you came screaming like a banshee.." she teased with a quick smile before it faded as she walked over to sit on the edge of the bed with a creak, "I figured if I stabbed it into her leg she'd let me go long enough for me to either get to you or.. push her over.." her hands raised to quickly push back through her dirty hair, staring at her lap. When she finally looked back up toward him Daryl was leaning against the desk watching her carefully. "I keep thinking that just thinking it made me a horrible person.."

Daryl shook his head, ignoring the quest for food as he stepped over to her and knelt beside her legs. "She would'a killed you.. you gotta fight back."

"What if she had?" The girl asked in a whisper, her pale eyes dancing rapidly over his face.

"Can't think like that."

"What. If she had, Daryl?"

Beth words from so many months ago coursed through his mind for the second time that day and a faint smirk traced his lips, "I'd'a missed you so bad when you were gone." He repeated the words as they danced through his head.

Without warning the blonde lunged at him, her arms quickly winding around him as she buried her pale face in his neck. Daryl sighed as his arms wrapped around her too, gently brushing through her hair in an attempt to calm her.

After only a couple of minutes she slowly extracted herself from his hold, "how's your arm?"

"Better." He forced a smile before his hand gently cupped her chin and tilted it up, allowing his gaze to trace over the wound at her throat. It wasn't deep and it had stopped bleeding but just looking at the wound brought on a swell of emotion that Daryl honestly didn't know what to do with. This was pretty much new territory for him. Sure, he'd gotten drunk and fooled around with some girl before the apocalypse, sometimes more than fooling around, but he'd never been so attached to any of them. Not like he was Beth.

He leaned in and pressed his lips against her forehead, bringing a gently smile to her lips. "We should get to sleep."

Beth nodded and pulled the blankets back on the bed. It didn't take long for either of them to have their boots off and be curled under the slowly warming covers. Daryl held the young blonde in his arms as they drifted off. It had been too long of a day and both of them needed the rest, he just hoped it would come easy enough.

**Reviews?**


	12. Us

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: Now, for chapters ten and eleven I'd been in a bit of.. well a pickle. I'd ran several ideas back and forth, back and forth through my head but nothing seemed to hit the spot just right. I was, ultimately, stuck between two things and I chose the darker side of it. I know that this hurt a lot of people, even angered quite a few. While many of you were happy with the way things were going, there were still those who were upset by everything that had happened with Carol. I wish there were a way to change your minds, but that was what I envisioned happening.**

–

Beth sighed as she stared out the third story window of the apartment building she and Daryl were camped out in. It'd been almost a month since they'd run into Carol and things had been pretty quiet for the both of them since. It was early and the sun had just began it's ascent into the sky, coloring it shades of purple and pink while the rest was still that inky blackness that came from a night without the moon. Sure, it'd been there just behind a constant cover of clouds.

She'd always liked storms, they made it simpler to sleep and they relaxed her better than anything. There hadn't been much that could relax her tonight, though. Carol's words rang in her head as she watched the morning sun rise into the sky. The little snow that they'd gotten had melted away, the ground had been damp for a day or so before the sunlight began turning just a little warmer. While it was still relatively cold at night, the days weren't so bad anymore. Moments like this made it seem as if their run-in with Carol had only been a couple of days back, most of the time Beth saw it all as a distant memory. The wound to her throat was nothing more than a scarred reminder that trust could get you killed.

Beth still wanted to see the good in people, that there was still hope for a good life, but she was a little more cautious about it now. The two had moved every day toward the next town, toward the next spot of land. It was almost a constant thing to be on the move in the hopes of finding food, shelter or fresh water.

The young blonde felt badly, now that she were alone with her thoughts and the silent patter of rain on the window, about how she'd been acting the last couple of weeks. Ever since she'd woken from a nightmare the night at the church Beth had been slowly pushing Daryl away. Carol was right. She'd never be what he needed. He needed someone stronger, someone better and someone much easier to deal with. He needed someone that could protect him just as much as he could protect them and while she had to admit that she wasn't half bad at keeping herself safe, she'd never survive on her own like Carol had and like Daryl could.

She'd had nightmares since the prison had fallen. Most of them Daryl knew about since he would comfort her back to sleep or at least hold her until she felt steady enough to be on her own again. There were others that he didn't know of, though. Some nights he just didn't wake when she jerked out of the horrid dreams. He'd slept right through last nights. If not for the nightmare Beth was certain she would have slept through the night thanks to the storm raging outside.

A lot of her dreams centered around the walkers getting too close, sometimes there were familiar faces. Those were the worst. Last night she'd dreamed of Maggie and Glenn, of finding them and hugging them both close. She'd dreamed of seeing Rick and Carl and Judith, of being with Michonne again. And then suddenly everything changed. One minute she was laughing with Maggie, Glenn and Daryl and the next thing she knew Maggie had turned. Her own sister was coming closer and when the hands wrapped around her throat Beth had jerked awake with a yelp. Daryl hadn't noticed, too lost in his own dreamland. She'd gotten out of the bed and stood near the window, watching the sun slowly rise on the horizon.

Her right hand lifted up to brush through her blonde hair, cringing at the tangles and knots from the matted blood and sweat. With an idea striking her, the girl quickly backed away from the window and walked silently toward the stairs that lead to the roof of the loft apartment. She and Daryl had swept the building yesterday for walkers, counting on today to search for food or other provisions. When the rain came both assumed it would be gone by morning but when an exceptionally loud crash of thunder startled the blonde awake only a couple of hours after they'd laid down she realized that they weren't going much of anywhere today unless they wanted to be soaked.

Right now, though, soaked was what she wanted. She'd only flashed a momentary glance back toward Daryl's sleeping figure before heading up. When she reached the top of the stairs Beth quickly yanked her boots off and set them on the top step to keep them from getting wet before she pushed the door open and stepped out into the pouring rain. Her face turned upward toward the sky as the rain pelted her, forcing her shirt and jeans to stick against her slender frame. Her eyes closed as she reached her hands back and pulled the hair tie out, then combed out the few thin braids. Within minutes she was soaked clean to the bone and was loving every moment of it. The rain had never felt so good in all her life.

As she stood in the downpour the girl allowed her thoughts to wander toward pretty much the only thing that meant anything in her life anymore. Daryl. All while she'd been keeping him at an arms length, he'd been fighting to make her understand. She wasn't completely sure that she did understand what he wanted her to or maybe she was just afraid to.

He'd finished teaching her how to shoot the crossbow, he'd taught her how to track and he'd even showed her a few tricks to setting traps for small animals. They were doing pretty well on meat these days, having captured and killed a few rabbits and a squirrel a couple of days ago, then slow cooked them over a fire until they were near jerky consistency. Admittedly, it was one of the better things that had happened recently.

The girl allowed the rain to soak in, ignoring the chill of it as she combed her fingers back through her dirty hair, wishing for a bottle of shampoo. She thought about how she'd been pushing Daryl away and how pointless it really was. Since it had begun to warm up outside she'd been laying next to him less and less with excuses about not being tired or keeping watch. She knew he cared, it was just difficult to see why after everything had happened with Carol, especially when she thought of Carol's words to her. Daryl did deserve someone who could protect him just as much as he did them. He deserved someone who could survive with him, not because of him.

A sigh parted her lips as the rain continued to pelt down before she heard a familiar sound and whirled toward the doorway. Daryl leaned against the door frame, just out of reach of the pouring rain. He'd cleared his throat to get her attention, his dark blue eyes followed her movements as she wandered about the roof. "Ain't never seen someone so happy it was rainin'." He commented with a hint of a smile lingering around his lips.

Beth shrugged her shoulders up quickly. "First shower I've had in almost a year." She replied before reaching out her hand toward him. "Come on.." she urged without taking her eyes from his face. It had been too long since the two had had an actual conversation and truth be told, she missed him. Perhaps the rain was helping to wash away all the negative thoughts, she wasn't sure. All she really knew was that she missed him and she wanted to be close to him again.

Daryl looked at her for a moment before shaking his head. "Nah, I'll wait til'yer done." A quick smile tugged his lips before he pulled back as if he were going to go back down the stairs. Beth realized then that her stepping out of his grasp for those three lonesome weeks had been enough to make him start to recoil too. The realization nearly choked her.

She didn't stop to put any further thought into her actions before darting forward, her cold fingers wrapping lightly around his arm to give a careful tug. "Come on.. before the rain stops." She begged. Daryl only had to glance briefly upward to know that the rain wouldn't be stopping any time soon and she could see the emotional war behind his eyes before he simply nodded and followed her out into the cool rain.

Much like she had done his face tipped skyward, eyes closed as the rain spattered on his dirty face and through his dark, matted hair. After he'd rubbed his hands over his face and his fingers back through his hair to work out the knots his gaze danced toward her. Beth chewed lightly at her lower lip before allowing a smile to pull at them. Daryl nodded quickly as if in response to some unasked question, then shifted his gaze upward again.

"Why'd you stick with me?" Beth asked suddenly, just loud enough to be heard over the heavy beating of rain on the roof around them.

"What?" He asked, though had clearly heard her question.

"After the prison fell, why.. You could have let me wander off on my own that night and you followed me instead. Why?" She asked with a furrow in her brows. Beth moved to stand closer to him, her pale gaze dancing over his gradually cleaner face.

"You'd'a died if I left you wander off." He stated in confusion.

"That wouldn't have been your problem."

His shoulders shrugged and he shook his head slightly.

"Dammit, Daryl.." she murmured under her breath while glancing away from him.

"What now?"

"Why is it whenever I ask you a serious question you just.. shrug and look away. You give me stupid responses like 'nothin' and 'iunno' instead of telling me whatever's going on in your head." She snapped in irritation.

There had only been a couple of times that Beth had raised her voice to him and he didn't know why he recoiled the way he did. Perhaps it was because every time that she actually had yelled at him it had all been true. He said nothing in response, merely stared at her as if the answer were going to telepathically enter her mind.

Beth threw her arms in the air and shook her head. "Why not tell me what's going on in your head?" She asked now.

Before he was able to stop himself Daryl responded with, "why not tell me what's in yours? You can walk around and act like I've been keepin' shit from you, but you ain't been no better!"

The blonde instantly sank her teeth into her lower lip, knowing it was true. Her gaze pulled from his face to dance around them. In the heavy downpour they could hardly see past the edge of the apartment they'd settled in to the buildings surrounding them. She was silent long enough that Daryl sighed.

"What'd she say to you?"

Her gaze snapped back to his face, brows furrowing. "What?"

"I ain't stupid, Beth. Ever since everythin' happened with Carol you've done everythin' you could to keep yourself away from me without actually leavin'. So what'd she say?" He asked with a scowl on his lips.

Beth shook her head and looked away, knowing that now she was the one being distant, she was the one giving the stupid little answers that she'd hated so much from him. "Don't worry about it." She finally stated before turning to walk back toward the stairs.

In the blink of an eye Daryl was blocking her path. "What'd she say?" He asked again, standing so solidly in her way that the girl knew she didn't stand much chance of getting through him unless she did something melodramatic.

"Why do you care?" She asked in response.

"What kinda stupid question is that?"

"It's not a stupid question, Daryl. Why do you care what she said to me? What impact is it really having on you?" Beth felt her voice rising as tears stung her eyes.

His brows rose slightly at the question before shaking his head. "Tell me what she said, first." He demanded. Daryl had wanted to say the words, but hadn't been able to get them out, so instead had to say the first thing that wasn't completely attached with emotion.

Beth opened her mouth to speak at the same time a loud crack of lightening struck, sending a crashing boom of thunder through the air.

"What?" Daryl shouted over it as he stepped closer.

"She said that I'll get you killed!" The girl shouted back, ignoring the burn of tears. Thankfully, with the rain she could easily play them off as not being tears.

Daryl looked momentarily confused before shaking his head at her. "And you believed that bullshit!?" He groaned.

Beth sighed heavily before shoving passed him and walking down the stairs into the darkened room. The clouds covering the sun in their deep gray hue was blocking out what little light they'd had in the room before. She brushed her fingers back through her hair to knock it from her pale face before reaching for her bag and sifting through it.

"Beth?" His voice was softer, but she didn't turn around. Instead the girl yanked out dry clothing and the brush she'd had tucked away so that she could change.

"What?" She asked while setting everything to the side.

"Will you.." he sighed audibly and shifted his weight, "you ain't gonna get me killed." When the girl didn't respond, or even move, he walked across the floor to place his hands on her shoulders. He frowned as he turned the girl around to face him, quickly shaking his head at her. "I'd probably be dead if it weren't for you."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes in response, crossing her arms over her chest while doing her level best not to look him in the eye. Beth had a feeling that if she did, she'd cry. "No, you wouldn't. You could make it on your own just fine. You don't need me, I'm just dead weight that's slowing you down."

"You ain't even." He stated in a quiet voice. Daryl hesitantly reached out to cup her cheek in his hand, fighting the smile that pulled on his lips as she leaned into it for only a moment. When she pulled back she sniffled and quickly wiped at her face.

Daryl stood in front of her in silence, one hand on her shoulder, the other resting gently against her cheek while they both dripped onto the floor. Finally the young blonde shifted her gaze to his face and found herself staring. Her tongue brushed across her lips to wet them, suddenly feeling as if her mouth were completely dry. "I told you. It's your turn." She murmured.

Daryl stared back into her wide blue eyes and for the life of him couldn't think of the words he needed. "Turn for what?" He asked, though already knew.

"What's been in your head? I told you what's been going on in mine.. it's your turn.."

His gaze shifted away for only a second, fighting with himself. Daryl didn't usually allow himself to feel much of anything, especially something good like what he felt for the girl because every time he allowed himself to feel something like that something even worse happened. He swallowed hard before stepping back from her, changing the subject quickly, "we should get changed.." he murmured while reaching for his bag.

"You love me, don't you?" She asked suddenly without actually thinking about saying it. Daryl froze in the process of opening his pack and slowly shifted his gaze onto her face, staring hard at her for a moment. Beth stepped closer, putting herself between him and his bag. "You love me and you're scared to admit it. You probably haven't even admitted it to yourself." He mumbled something that she didn't quite catch and her brows furrowed in response. "What?"

"I said, you're wrong." He stated as his eyes fell shut in defeat. Slowly, they opened to land on her face instantly hating himself for the hurt expression he saw. "I already knew.." he murmured just low enough that she nearly missed it.

Beth felt her heart skip a beat when the words escaped his mouth, her eyes widening slightly in surprise. She opened her mouth to respond but only let out a faint breath of air. After several moments of staring up at him she noticed the uncomfortable expression that was beginning to fill his features due to her silence and shook her head to give herself a mental kick-start. "Why didn't you tell me?" She asked now.

Daryl shrugged and gave a silent 'iunno' under his breath causing her eyes to roll upward. "We really back to that?" She countered.

He sighed softly and raised a hand to comb it back through his dripping hair. "Look, I ain't all that good with talkin'.." the male frowned a little, glancing away from her briefly before back to her face.

"Just.. say whats in your heart.." she murmured while leaning closer.

Daryl licked at his lips and stared hard at her while trying to put his thoughts into actual words that wouldn't make him sound like an idiot. When the blonde shivered he frowned, "let's get dry first," he suggested, hoping for a chance to try to sort his thoughts.

Beth looked as though she would protest for a moment, though the cool air was definitely sticking to her sopping wet clothes. She nodded quickly and snatched her clothes from beside her bag, then walked to the small bathroom. Other than the stairwell leading up to the roof and the small hallway leading downstairs there wasn't another room with a door in the loft. It took a bit of time to peel her clothes off since each article wanted to cling to her but she managed easily enough and hung the wet clothes over the otherwise empty shower rod. Before pulling on the clothes she'd found for herself, a simple pair of black sweats that she'd found a couple months back and a deep blue tanktop the girl took in a deep breath while she tried to sort all of her thoughts out. She yanked the brush through her wet hair to work out the tangles before cracking the door the check if he were done dressing or not.

When her pale eyes caught sight of his scarred and tattooed back she sucked in a quick breath and closed the door again. Had he really just admitted that he loved her? It seemed like it, but.. The blonde caught sight of her reflection in the dingy mirror over the sink, easily noting that her face was flushed with excitement, yet her eyes were still wide with worry. With a steadying breath she opened the door again to find him leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He always managed to have the same clothes on without actually having the same ones. He wore a black t-shirt with the sleeves cut off and a pair of snug fitting blue jeans, his damp cloths were draped over the rail on the stairs to the roof.

A quick smile tugged her lips before shivering again. She could almost see the roll of his dark eyes, probably because she should have known to grab a warmer shirt, but she'd been in a rush and hadn't really put much thought behind it. With that in mind the girl walked over to their make-shift bed–a futon mattress they'd found in one of the apartments below–and dropped down onto it. As she pulled the blanket around herself to keep warm Daryl sauntered over with a hint of that awkwardness about him. He brushed a hand back through his dark hair once more before settling down beside her on the bed.

He was silent enough that Beth wanted to push him for answers but kept herself quiet instead, even though her curiosity burned like iron in coals. Eventually, to keep her eyes from boring holes into the side of his face, the girl leaned back on the bed. After what felt like hours he spoke without looking at her. "Y'know my mama never ever told me and Merle she loved us?" Her asked without really expecting an answer. "My dad never seemed to care much, so long as we stayed outta his way and he had enough whiskey."

Keeping his eyes off of her pretty face Daryl leaned back on the bed, tucking one arm under his head. "I ain't never wanted to say it to nobody." He commented before chewing lightly at his thumbnail, "not til you, anyways." He flashed a quick glanced over at the blonde to see her staring at him with mingled curiosity and awe. Swallowing hard Daryl turned his eyes toward the ceiling once more, finding it simpler to talk without actually looking at her. "I ain't never let anyone in like you before."

A heavy sigh fell from his lips as he gazed at the ceiling. Beth wanted to say something but, while it looked as though he would keep talking, she wasn't going to interrupt. "Every time somethin' starts to look like it could be alright, somethin' else happens that turns it all to shit." He stated and suddenly rolled onto his side so that he was facing her. Daryl frowned darkly as he let his dark eyes move over her pale face. Thinking of nothing more to say or not able to put anything else into words he fell silent and watched her while waiting for her reaction.

Beth shifted onto her side as well, her pale gaze raking over his face. Her voice was lower than he thought he'd ever heard it as she spoke, "so you didn't want to tell me because you thought it was going to turn to shit?" She repeated his phrase and smiled softly at the quick laugh that fell from his lips when she cursed. It wasn't often that she did and for some reason it always sounded comical coming from her.

He'd assumed that it was because she seemed so angelic, but he knew that the girl was no angel. Maybe in the past, but not in this world. "It kinda did, though.. dinnit?" He replied as the smirk vanished into another frown.

"What do you mean?"

Daryl's frown deepened as he tried to once more figure out how to say what he wanted to without coming off sounding stupid. Perhaps it was because he'd never really had conversations like this in the past because in some ways he felt that talking the way he was–even though it were completely honest–made him a little too soft. "Alright, we kissed and then, what.. thirty seconds later some psychos come bustin' in the house?"

Beth snickered softly and shook her head. "Bad timing."

"We kiss again and the next day you almost go sky-divin'."

"Okay, that one wasn't bad timing.. just bad luck." She countered and laughed quietly. Daryl rolled his eyes but she could see the hint of a smirk lying somewhere around the corners of his mouth. "So, what, you're afraid that if you actually say it something worse will happen?" She asked now.

The brunette gazed at her for a few moments and shrugged up one shoulder without a word. Beth scooted closer, closing the space between them to almost nothing as she reached out a hand to rest on his cheek. "Nothin' bad's gonna happen." She promised before leaning in and pressing a gentle kiss against his lips.

"You don't know that." He murmured almost painfully when she pulled back.

"No." She shook her head softly in response. "But I have hope. Don't you? After everything that's happened, all the people we've lost and all the running around looking for something better, you can't tell me that you don't have the smallest bit of hope, Daryl."

Daryl opened his mouth to respond and chuckled quietly. Subconsciously, he knew that she was the hope that got him through the day, she was the reason he forced himself to keep going every single day. Of course, those weren't really words he could easily form, so instead he shook his head. "I told you before, the world went to hell a long time ago, ain't much room for hope."

"There's always room for hope." She countered without missing a beat. "If you're that worried, don't say it but I'm not going anywhere, Daryl. You're pretty much stuck with me."

The male grinned faintly and reached out his arm to drape around her slender waist. "I ain't complainin' 'bout that." He told her before feeling the smile slip away as her hand came to rest on his cheek, her thumb gently caressing his stubbled skin.

Beth smirked as his eyes closed under her touch before curling herself tighter to his chest. His arms shifted until both were securely wrapped around her, hugging her to him. When he was sure she'd fallen asleep from the heavy patter of rain on the window and the softly rumbling thunder, he leaned down to press a kiss to the top of her head, much like he used to do. After swallowing hard he hugged her tighter for only a moment, "I love you, Beth.." he whispered into her hair.

**Reviews? LEGASP! Had to give my Bethyl fans a bit of feels this chapter! See where the road takes them next.. I won't have an update tomorrow, so hopefully this will sate everyone until the next!**


	13. Still

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I had honestly had every intention of ending after '_Us_' because I thought it was really a bit perfect. Daryl found love, Beth knew it and they could sort of just vanish into the sunset (the plan was to begin another Bethyl fic with a variety of other things happening) but I realized that I've fallen for this story and the variety of things I saw could easily happen in this fic. Besides, there's just so much that can happen and we're going to explore it all eventually!**

–

She'd heard him say it, she'd heard those four perfect little words escape his lips in that amazing southern drawl of his. While she'd been internally screaming and jumping with glee, the girl had actually remained silent and still in his arms. For some reason she felt that if she'd looked up at him, that if he'd realized he'd been heard he would clam up again. Perhaps the next time she'd allow herself the physical freak-out, but for now she'd kept it all inside.

After being up for half the night and the cold shower in the rain, Beth was pretty well exhausted by the time the chill had finally worn away to leave her warm in his arms. It helped that Daryl continued to brush his thick fingers back through her hair, the movement calming. She'd slept through most of the day and when she woke Daryl wasn't in sight. Where he'd laid was cold as the sun made the bleak attempt to shine through the dingy windows and the ever present clouds. She frowned before pushing herself to sit up, gazing around slowly.

When he was nowhere to be seen her heart skipped a beat. Beth quickly pushed herself up, "Daryl?" She called and listened to the echo as it bounced off the surrounding walls. With a frown pulling on her lips the girl raced to the stairs leading toward the roof and peered quickly through the dirty window. The rain was still pattering down, though a lot lighter than it had been earlier. She slid on her, thankfully, dry boots and clambered back down the stairs without bothering to lace them up.

"Daryl?" She called again as she bounced down the stairs. A quick look around showed that the bathroom door stood wide open and her clothes from earlier were still drying on the shower rod. His bag still rested beside hers on the floor but the cross bow was missing and so were several other weapons they'd accumulated over the months.

Without stopping to give it too much time to think Beth grabbed her hatchet off the floor and rushed to the hall door, figuring he'd gone off alone. She jumped quickly down the stairs to the second floor and peered into the first apartment on the right. It stood just as it had when they'd checked it yesterday, empty save for a couple of boxes along the wall under the dirty window. It looked as though someone had either used it as a storage or someone had gotten to the tail end of moving before the world stopped.

The apartment across the hall was much the same, except it looked as though it had actually been lived in. This was the apartment they'd taken the futon mattress from the day before. After a quick listen to determine no one was inside she walked to the last door on the left, finding it empty as well. Beth had never really put much thought into apartment buildings until after she'd had to leave the farm, and even then it wasn't much. It seemed as though this one was poorly constructed to suit tenants, at least in her own opinion. A loft on the third floor with the only roof access, three apartments on the second floor-each with two or more rooms-and six apartments on the ground floor with just a kitchen and a bathroom. It didn't seem like the most 'money making' of buildings, but what did she know?

She clambered down the stairs, nearly losing her footing toward the top due to her untied laces, but manged to grip the wall just in time to keep herself from tumbling down. Unfortunately, she'd dropped her hatchet in the process and it thundered down two steps before coming to a rest. She cringed internally and reached down to grab it just as she heard heavy, hurried footfalls running her way. A smile pulled at her lips when Daryl appeared at the foot of the stairs, the concern on his face quickly melting to relief.

She didn't even need to ask why he'd be concerned in the first place, any sound could be an unwelcome one. "Thought you was still asleep." He stated while hauling the crossbow up to rest against his shoulder.

"I was. But then I noticed you were gone.." She replied and shrugged.

"You could'a stayed there, was jus' lookin' for some food."

The blonde shrugged again, "did you find any?"

"A little, looks like this place has been looted through before." He commented and looked around the empty hall. Daryl frowned as his gaze settled on the window, watching the rain patter against it. "Startin'ta hate this rain."

"Why? It's so peaceful." A smile lingered about her lips as she listened to the rain drumming softly against the windows and the outer walls.

"Makes it hard to hear somethin' comin', though." He replied reasonably.

Beth rolled her eyes lightly at him being logical before climbing down the last of the stairs. "Okay, I'll give you that but we're pretty secure here.." she commented, "at least for a little while."

He nodded and waved her over before turning to go back to his search. The girl followed after him with a gentle smile. Around the corner of the hall he'd set aside all of the food and supplies he'd found in the rooms. She spotted a couple of cans, a box of crackers, a jar of peanut butter, some prescription pill bottles (which were most likely expired), some gauze in a plastic bag and even some little characterized band-aids. There was also a thin fleece blanket folded up on the floor beside everything, it was dusty but it would work well enough once they'd shaken it out. "How much more is there to check down here?" She asked while following along behind him.

"Just the last apartment over here. I jus' barely got the door open when you come crashin' down the stairs." He teased and flashed a quick smirk back at her. Beth made a little face at him in response but laughed quietly.

Even though they had cleared the building the previous day to be sure there were no walkers, it was still best to go everywhere armed as if the space hadn't been checked before. Her pale eyes danced over the apartment as she followed in behind him, her hatchet held close and at the ready. Daryl peered around the corner to the bathroom, just to check as he had all the other rooms, before turning to go through the cupboards. It had been moderately furnished with what Beth believed to be second hand everything, unless it were just really old. The couch looked as though it had once been a shade of blue, but was worn out in various places with obvious claw marks down the arms from a cat. The couch also doubled as a pull-out bed with the blankets and sheets in a bunched mess. The carpet was pet-stained and there were crayon marks on the wall.

The photos on the walls were the same chubby three children ranging in the ages from infant to probably seven, Beth frowned at the thought of where those poor children were now. Tearing her gaze away from the photos she walked to the kitchen and began scouring the cupboards. Amidst the old and dented cookware she found old butter bowls and chipped flatware. She wondered if whomever had lived here even bothered to do anything about it.

A sigh fell from her lips as she continued her search of the cabinets, finding nothing but what appeared to have once been a loaf of bread but had long since hardened into a brick inside of it's plastic wrap. Whomever had come through here before had cleared out anything of use in the cabinets, or perhaps the original tenant had taken everything worth taking with them when they fled.

She sighed as she shifted her gaze around the small apartment and wondered who would live in such solidarity. Perhaps it was just because she'd never liked the idea of being so alone but Beth didn't think she'd have been able to do it. Sure, in the building there were other tenants but one never knew who their neighbors actually were. The idea of being surrounded by people but still alone actually broke her heart a little.

Daryl emerged from the bathroom with a little shake of his head. "'Bout the only thing left in there is a couple'a towels."

"Yeah, it looks like whoever lived here just sort of took everything.."

"Must'a packed as soon as it all started, alls that's left in the dresser is a pair of old socks. Anythin' in there?" He indicated the cabinets behind the girl. Beth quickly shook her head in response before walking back toward him.

"Might as well get what you found upstairs."

He hummed a response and walked passed her, purposely brushing his hand against hers with a quick smirk that made her stomach do miniature flip-flops. Without another word the blonde fell into step behind him. Both stooped to pick things up but being armed there would have to be a second trip to collect the blanket and the few cans left.

After getting everything back to the third floor and settled next to their bags the two walked back down. Once more Beth stumbled over her laces and in the process of trying to catch herself the girl came down on her right foot wrong and instantly moaned at the sharp pain that shot through her ankle. Within a matter of seconds Daryl's arm wrapped around her waist to keep her from actually falling before settling her back on her bottom on the stairs.

He sighed as he leaned over to look at the damage, flicking the boot laces in irritation. "I know, I know. I was in a hurry to find you and when I did I'd kinda forgotten about it.." She hissed as she tried to put weight on it.

"Rule number one." He stated with a frown.

"I thought rule number one was stay alert?" Her sassy tone caused him to just stare back at her with his brows raised slightly.

Without another word he quickly stood and gathered everything that they'd left into the blanket, then settled it into her lap. She gazed up at him in confusion for only a second before his hands tucked under her to haul her up in his arms.

The girl didn't protest, though being off the ground carried like that sort of made her paranoid. Beth didn't care for heights, which usually meant she didn't like being picked up, but she wasn't going to complain about it this time around. One arm wrapped around his neck and the other clutched to their things as he carried her up the two flights of stairs, then eased her down onto the mattress. After taking the load from her lap he dropped down by her legs and pulled her left boot off with ease to set it beside them. He was a little more cautious with the right, especially when she winced. After pulling her sock down a little he could see that it was already swollen.

"Prob'ly jus' twisted it." He commented.

"I should have a wrap somewhere in my bag.."

"You mean that ol' thing we wrapped my arm in?" He asked while half-crawling toward her bag until he could reach it to pull it close. "It had blood on it.."

"So, it was still good.. Besides, how often are we gonna come across Ace bandages?" She retorted.

He grunted a response while sifting through her bag. Normally, Daryl didn't make a habit of going through her bag, just because he didn't like to invade her privacy–as if there were still such a thing–but it would have been faster for him to root through it than have her dig carefully in. Within a couple of seconds he pulled out the thick roll of fabric. Blood-stained and dirty as it was there was still quite a bit of elasticity left, which meant that it would still do the job they needed it to.

Carefully, he wrapped her ankle up while she watched him in silence. "Better?" He asked when he finally looked up.

"Mhm." She hummed softly and nodded.

"Don't think we'll be goin' much of anywhere for a little while, now."

Beth frowned and nodded again, allowing her gaze to dance around the space. "Could be worse.." she murmured as her attention turned back to his face.

"How you figure?"

"We could be in the middle of a field surrounded by walkers.." she replied and shrugged.

Daryl nodded and chuckled quietly. "You got me there." Just the sheer thought of her having twisted her ankle in the middle of a crowd of walkers made his stomach churn. The thought was certainly not a pleasant one. Getting through a crowd of walkers was hard enough already, they didn't need to do anything to make it even worse.

The two fell silent for a short time while he gently massaged her sore ankle through the wrap and she watched him. It took several minutes before he shifted his gaze back to her face and when he did she couldn't help but to smile. "What?" He asked now.

"Nothin'." She replied, shaking her head and unable to wipe the smile off of her face. His brows rose in a classic 'really?' expression. "Seriously, nothing!" She said now, laughing.

As she grinned over at him, Daryl was unable to keep a faint smirk from pulling at his lips before rolling his eyes and glancing away. Beth noted a faint blush behind the scruff that had formed on his cheeks and couldn't help but to find it endearing. He didn't turn back to look at her until he felt the bed shift slightly as she scooted closer to him, mindful of her sore ankle. "Thanks.." she murmured as her pale eyes traced over his face.

He shrugged quickly in slight awkwardness, "it's nothin'."

"It's not, you carried me up two flights of stairs and took care of me."

Again, his shoulders rose and fell. Her hands pressed into the mattress beside her bottom while pushing herself closer until they were sitting side-by-side facing one another. Her hand then shifted up to knock some of the brown hair away from his face, his gaze following her movement before leaning into her touch as her slender fingers brushed across his cheek.

Daryl's eyes closed before he turned slightly to press a kiss against her palm. A tender smile traced her lips as she watched him. A year ago Beth would have sworn that Daryl Dixon didn't have a soft side, that there was no romantic in him at all. But these last couple of months had shown her that he did.. and the last couple of weeks had only increased that belief. While he didn't seem to believe that there was she couldn't help but to see it.

His eyes flicked open to land on her face, staring back into her pretty eyes. The girl felt a blush creep onto her cheeks at the intensity of his stare. He reached up and took her hand from his face, stroking it with his thumb. His gaze dropped for only a second, then rose back to her face with a quick smile. Daryl would never admit it outright but he could handle dealing with walkers all day, he could spend time with any person on the planet–so long as they didn't irritate him too much–but to show any kind of real emotion toward the girl actually terrified him. Why? He wasn't completely sure.

Though he was fairly certain it had something to do with his fear that things were going to fall apart. Every time something looked like it could go well in his life, something happened to rip the rug out from under his feet. Hell before the end of the world kicked in he'd gotten a good job, he was making good money, Daryl had even found a good place for him and Merle instead of sleeping between their friends houses. Merle had even looked like he was going to stop using and for once he'd thought things could be normal. Two days later and the apocalypse started. Everything in his life had been like that.. something good happened, then something worse had to step in his path. One step forward, two steps back.

Without allowing himself to think too much more on it Daryl leaned in and kissed her softly. Almost instantly her arms rose to wrap around him and draw him closer. With one hand shifting to wrap around her waist the other slowly tangled into her hair as their kiss deepened.

Unable to stop it, a giggle slipped from Beth's lips. Daryl hummed a question of 'what' against her mouth before she pulled away just enough to speak. "You may have been right." When his expression turned toward confusion she snickered again. "After everything yesterday.. I twist my ankle today." Of course, she left out that she'd heard him tell her he loved her but she hinted at the way he'd spoken on how things turned to crap every time something happened between them.

His eyes rolled quickly, fighting the frown that threatened his lips. "I like your idea better.." he stated, this time causing her to look confused, "just bad luck."

Beth smiled brightly before pulling his mouth back to hers. He smirked in the kiss as he pulled her slender frame closer.

**How are we enjoying them? Still adorable? Find out where the road leads them next in "_A New Day"_.**


	14. A New Day

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language, Hints toward Sex, Feels**

**Authors Note: Because I don't feel the need to bump the rating on this fic we're just going to leave the assumption that the end of chapter thirteen was the beginning of sexy-time. I've written a separate fic just for that, if any of you would like to read it please go to my profile and scroll down the list of my stories (I keep them all on the front page of my profile). Have fun! -wink-**

**Also, I believe I need to apologize. I know that I sometimes misspell things when Daryl is talking, but this is done for the reason that I'm pronouncing one or two words in my head at once. The Southern accent has a tendency to sound that way sometimes. If there's ever a word you can't figure out PM me, though they should always be easy enough.**

–

Beth groaned in her sleep, shifting onto her side so that she was facing away from him. Daryl rolled and draped his arm over her slender waist as she slept on. The rain had stopped not long before the sun began to rise in the early morning sky, leaving a slight fog in it's place. Actually, he wasn't sure just how dense the fog was as he didn't want to move from the warmth the little blonde radiated.

He curled himself against her back and leaned over to press a kiss against her bare shoulder, smirking softly at the memories of the night before that flooded into his head at the simple feel of his lips on her skin. Had he intended on things going the way they had? Not really. He hadn't planned for their kiss to deepen, he hadn't planned for her to lean back on the bed, pulling him with her. By kissing the girl, he hadn't meant for things to go so far but the next thing he knew their bodies were writhing together, sweaty and warm and … he sighed softly at the sheer memory of the sounds the girl had made.

_Enough to wake the dead. _He thought before chuckling quietly at his bad pun. His teeth sank into his lower lip while pushing himself up onto his elbow to look down at her. Daryl didn't think he'd ever get over the angelic way she looked while she slept or just how much he enjoyed watching her sleep. Actually, he didn't want to get over it.

He reached out a hand to pull a lock of her pale hair away from her face, the action caused her nose to wrinkle up cutely before her hand raised to rub at the tickle it had caused. Her lips parted as she let out a soft breath and clutched the blanket just a little tighter. Daryl pulled it gently up over her, then stroked his hand back through her soft hair.

The sun slowly beat through the window as the cloud cover vanished and the fog began to dissipate but the girl slept on. At least until she moved to stick one leg out from under the cover and whacked her bad ankle on the floorboards. With a hissing breath she sat up and reached down toward the stabbing pain. Daryl winced in response, imagining the ache it would have caused her swollen ankle. "You alright?" He asked quietly.

Beth nodded, but kept herself silent for a little longer, at least until the pain had subsided enough for her to catch a breath. "I'm fine.." she whispered and rolled over to face him. A smile lingered about her lips as she looked over his face. It was clear she was remembering the night before as well and Daryl couldn't stop the soft blush that colored his cheeks nor the smirk that pulled at the corner of his mouth.

"Sleep okay?" He asked now, it was only natural that he be a little worried, what with the random groans she'd made in her sleep every time she'd moved. Although, he really shouldn't have expected much different with it only having been her first time–at least that he was aware of. She'd never said anything different about it, though he'd never really asked either. It wasn't really something that mattered much.

"Yeah. Probably the best nights sleep I've had in a while." She remarked and laughed quietly, a blush of her own turning her cheeks rosy. "You?" She asked as her wide blue eyes traced the lines in his face.

Daryl nodded with a hint of a smirk appearing on his lips behind the stubble that had steadily formed. "Hungry?" He asked now. Before the girl had a chance to answer her stomach growled loudly, causing both of them to laugh quietly. "Guess so." Without further hesitation he sat up and slipped off of the bed, shivering at the cool air on his bare chest. When she'd slept the day before, after he'd gone rooting through the first apartment, Daryl had taken a couple of pans up to the roof to allow them to fill with water. He figured they could find bottles or jugs or something to fill the water with so that they could keep it with them. They had one canteen and it didn't last very long.

After grabbing the box of crackers he'd found the day before and their canteen he made his way back to the bed. Beth sat up and shifted uncomfortably for a moment, just long enough for him to see the expression on her face and arch a brow. He didn't get a chance to ask what was wrong before Beth frowned. "My legs hurt.." she stated.

Almost instantly he laughed and looked away from her, knowing it was his fault but couldn't feel sorry about it. It took him a moment to regain his composure and when he did he simply settled back into his spot on the bed beside her.

The little smirk seemed permanently attached to his lips and Beth had to admit that she was enjoying it. She flashed him a quick narrow-eyed, playful look before reaching out to snatch the box of cheese flavored crackers away. Daryl wasn't able to stop the laugh that slipped out as she stared up at him, quickly turning his gaze away again with a hint of a blush on his cheeks. Truthfully, Beth didn't think she'd ever seen him so relaxed. It was amazing to see him so calm, so loose. He rarely ever let go like this and it was a welcomed sight.

Beth opened the crackers, then grabbed a small handful before passing it back to him. "Know what I miss?" She asked after chewing at the first cracker. Daryl gave a quick nod to show he was listening before popping a cracker into his mouth. "Swimming pools."

He gave her a strange look before shaking his head, "too much chlorine in all of 'em."

"Okay, fine, how about the old pond behind my dad's farm."

"There was a pond there?" He asked, wondering why he didn't remember it.

"Well, not right behind but a couple miles away from the farm there was this pond, trees everywhere.. Me and Maggie had built a swing on one of them when I was, like, eleven or twelve." She remembered with a smile tugging at her lips at the memories of she and her sister's play time. Of course, the swing was used less and less as the girls grew older and their interests changed. When her gaze turned back to his face she asked, "what about you?"

He shrugged lightly, "there was a creek not far from my house growin' up. Me and Merle went swimmin' a couple'a times, least 'til he started driving. Last time we went swimmin' was when Merle'd gotten drunk at his girlfriends house and crashed the truck into the creek." He stated and when the girl's brows arched he shrugged.

There were a lot of memories like that for him. Usually he and Merle would be doing something fun and then Merle would be drunk or high and things would get messed up. He could count at least four different times that Merle had done something stupid that had nearly gotten him killed. Twice it was with a gun to his head. Once he'd nearly drowned. The worst was when he'd overdosed.. and he hadn't even realized the drugs were going into his system until it was too late. Daryl quickly pushed the thoughts from his head as he looked back to Beth.

After taking a small drink from the canteen she brushed her free hand back through her pale hair and smiled. "I miss being able to do laundry, pulling clothes right out of the dryer.." her eyes closed at the memory of the scent of fabric softener. The scent was fading from her memory and she felt a little disheartened to know that someday she wouldn't remember it at all.

"Mm," he hummed around the mouthful of crackers. After swallowing he shook his head quickly, "being able to change clothes." He pointedly looked at their packs. Each had one, maybe two, changes of clothes to last them indefinitely. It was simple to miss being able to change every day.

"Having clothes." She countered and frowned at the thought of the many things she'd just left in her closet for months on end before all of this. Beth regretted it now.

"Music." He stated with a far off look in his eyes.

The girl smiled brightly at this as she pulled her good leg up toward her chest and wrapped an arm around it. "What kind of music did you listen to?" She asked now.

His shoulders rose and fell in a shrug as if it should have been obvious. "Rock, not the new crap neither. Skynard, Zepplin, the good shit. Bit of country." He stated and allowed a smile to tug on his lips as the lyrics of an old Metallica song danced through his head. "You?"

"Little bit of everything, really. Dad played a lot of country and mom listened to christian rock," the girl shook her head at that comment as if it weren't what she was completely intrigued with, "Maggie listened to a lot of the newer rock and Shawn played a lot of rap–though I think that was more just to make dad mad than anything. I sort of listened to all of it, plus a lot of things that most people hadn't even heard of." She said and raised her shoulders up and down in a shrug.

"Shawn? He was yer brother, waddint'e?" He asked around a mouthful of the dry crackers.

Beth nodded quickly and smiled sadly. Sure, she'd gotten over the loss of her brother and her mother ages ago, but that didn't make it completely easy to talk about them without feeling some sadness. It was her family. While Daryl maintained a firm belief that everyone they'd been at the prison with was gone, Beth didn't want to think that Maggie and Glenn were dead. Instead, she chose to believe that they'd gotten away together and that they were happy somewhere.

Daryl didn't respond but nodded slightly in understanding. It sucked to lose family and when he really thought about it he didn't have any left. Well, he had Beth. The girl interrupted his thoughts by speaking up again with a faint smile on her lips, "know what else I miss?" She asked. Again, Daryl nodded to show he was listening but said nothing. "Phones. I miss being able to call people and just.. talk." The brunette laughed quietly and shook his head. "What?" She asked now.

"I never had a phone." He replied honestly.

"You can't be serious?"

"I am. My dad thought it was somethin' that we didn't need. 'Course, his tv and sports was fine, but we didn't need no telephone, we didn't need no air conditioning or heaters. Hell, if it weren't for the house already havin' a shitter he prob'ly would've made us go in the yard."

"Oh my god!" The blonde's eyes widened as she stared at him. "No offense, but your dad sounds like.. a jerk." She struggled with the word for a moment before shaking her head.

"He was an ass, especially when he was drunk. I ain't never had a probl'm with my temper 'til I started drinkin'." He commented and frowned, remembering the night they'd gotten drunk on moonshine.

She obviously remembered it too and frowned while shaking her head. "Yeah, well, we ever find alcohol again, you can't have any." She stated before smirking and reaching out for their canteen to take a quick swig.

Daryl's brows rose and fell quickly as his head canted to the side, knowing he wasn't going to argue it. He knew that he was a mean drunk, which was why he hadn't wanted to drink that day at the shack, he'd been worried he would get out of control and do something stupid. And he had. Thankfully both of them survived it. "What else?" He asked as his eyes danced over her face.

The girl fell silent for a moment, then laughed softly. "Deoderant."

Daryl pretended to take offense as her eyes danced over him. With a straight face he lifted an arm and smelled his armpit before looking back at her, "whachu talkin' about? I smell like a spring rain."

"Yeah, maybe when you were standing in it." She quipped and fought the laugh that threatened to escape her now. Unfortunately when Daryl chuckled at her comment she couldn't hold it back.

"Alright, I'll give you that one." He stated and smiled when the laughter finally died away. "What else?" He asked.

"Mm-mm, your turn." She responded and shook her head.

Daryl fell silent for a long time as he thought back for something that would be worth saying he really missed it. He hadn't had a whole lot of things in his whole life, so there wasn't much that he really could miss. Finally, a small smirk pulled on his lips at a memory. "Fishin'."

Her nose wrinkled up in a rather adorable manner and Daryl couldn't help but to chuckle and nod. "Mhm, fishin'. Jus' sittin' out on a boat in the middle of nowhere with nothin' but a fishin' pole, a cooler full'a beer and Merle sittin' on his ass beside me." Beth smiled lightly as he spoke, relishing the fact that he was being so open.

After grabbing another handful of crackers she smiled. "You and Merle did a lot together, huh?"

The smile fell away from his lips as he nodded. He fell silent for a moment or two, then ran a hand back through his dark hair. "We did pretty much everythin' together. Never really had nobody but us." He stated while staring down at his hands.

She placed one of hers on top in an attempt to comfort him. A forced smile pulled at his lips now and he slipped one hand out from under hers to quickly grasp her fingers gently. Beth returned the little smile as she entwined their fingers together. "I miss school." She admitted and frowned.

"School?" He responded in disbelief.

"Mm. I miss going to school, being around people my age and learnin' new stuff. I miss having teachers that tell me what to do.. and school lunches.. my friends.." the happiness slowly deflated from her expression as she allowed her thoughts to wander.

Not allowing their more upbeat mood to fade, Daryl laughed quietly, "lemme guess, you was the girl that got perfect grades and did extra credit for fun?" He teased.

Beth scoffed indignantly, "I was not!" Her voice went a little higher than she'd intended which caused his brows to raise before he snickered.

"You didn't?"

Her eyes rolled up quickly before cringing with a low sigh. "A couple of times, yeah.. but only because my dad promised to buy me a car if I kept my grades up real high." Daryl chuckled again and shook his head in response. He'd already told her that he'd never made it through high school, he'd dropped out only a couple of days into his freshman year.

Beth shifted her position on the bed, making a face of discomfort at the slight ache in her legs. Having caught the look Daryl smirked and glanced away. "I'd tell ya to walk it out, but.." he motioned toward her ankle and fought not to laugh. There was nothing more uncomfortable than an ache you couldn't get rid of by the typical ways because you were confined to a space.

She rolled her eyes up quickly and reached out to playfully shove his shoulder. He snickered under his breath before snatching the canteen from her hand to drink down the last of it.

The blonde opened her mouth to say something when a sound ripped through the air that caused both of them to freeze in place. They didn't need to move to know exactly what the sound was, it was one they'd heard before, many times. "Stay." Daryl ordered and pushed himself quietly to his feet. He crept quickly to the dirty window that overlooked the street out front and found it empty, save for a single walker shambling about.

He quickly moved to the window the peered down at the west side of the street and found the source of the noise. A woman, tall and blonde with her hair cut short enough that Daryl actually had to stare a moment to be sure it was a woman. She was pale-skinned as if she'd never really seen much sunlight. From a distance he couldn't tell much more about her other than the tattered state of her clothes. She'd obviously made the mistake of getting too close to the walkers, probably thought she could handle them on her own.

He spotted the flash of silver as she slammed a knife into the head of the one that had bit into her right arm, having torn a good chunk of flesh away in the process. The sound they'd heard was her scream as it had bitten her. He flashed a look toward Beth, who was watching him closely as if trying to decide whether or not to get up. Instead of pulling herself up right away she began making the preparations she could by pulling her hair back into a loose ponytail behind her head.

Daryl's gaze slipped back to the window as the woman whirled and shoved the blade upwards through the jaw of another walker. It wasn't going to matter. There were too many and she was already bitten pretty bad. If Daryl had thought there was any chance of saving her he would have done it but there was nothing he could do. Not now. Instead he closed his eyes and let out a slow sigh before walking back to the bed and dropping down next to the blonde as the woman outside screamed again.

Beth stared questioningly up at him before he shook his head slightly, indicating that there was nothing either of them could do. She frowned and nodded in response. The time for talking and laughing was over. As the screams of the woman outside finally began to fade after several minutes and the moans of the walkers grew louder as the sound had drew them in.

Both fell silent as they listened to the walkers outside and hoped that they'd clear out relatively quickly. Daryl briefly thought of his and Beth's conversation the night before about how things kept turning to shit every time he allowed himself to feel something for her. He forced himself not to think about the fact that less than 10 hours ago he'd been happier than he had probably ever felt in his life. The thought of how that could all turn to shit in a matter of seconds wasn't one he wanted, but he was unable not to think of the fact that Beth could hardly walk.. and there was a lot of biters out there.

The girl seemed to sense that something depressing was going through his head because she leaned over and wrapped both of her arms around one of his, then pressed a quick kiss against his bare shoulder. Daryl quickly pushed the thoughts away and concentrated on the young blonde beside him. His free arm raised to wind around her, pulling her closer as they listened to the walkers shuffling about.

**Reviews? Will things turn to shit?**


	15. Sick

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I know I have a tendency to skip days/weeks/months at a time, but it can't be helped. If I went day by day and told every little detail things would get boring, really quick, for everyone. It just seems easier to skip over certain segments of time that have nothing truly important happening.**

–

Not for the first time today Beth had dropped to her knees, vomiting what little she'd eaten into the dirt. Daryl had been assuming that it was because they hadn't had much to eat lately. What little they had eaten was some jerky they'd made out of a rabbit last month sometime. Sure, it'd been in one of those storage bags but after getting a funny taste in his mouth from it Daryl had spit out the one bite he'd taken. Beth had swallowed the bite she'd taken, figuring it was just a little stale. The next bite was spit out, the taste no better toward the middle.

Now that she was running on the third time of dropping into the dirt he was leaning more toward a bit of food poisoning. _Great, and no medicine in sight_, he thought with a darkening frown. They'd been on the move almost nonstop for almost three long months. Daryl had allowed them a week in the loft apartment to give her ankle a little bit of time to heal but then they had to get moving again, they couldn't risk staying much longer with almost no food to eat. Even now the blonde still walked with a hint of a limp. He wondered if it would ever heal over and knew that unless they could rest for more than a couple of days it probably wouldn't.

Since then the two had been lucky to find a spare can of tuna lying around. They'd chanced going through an old diner off the interstate almost a week back and had found little more than a bottle of cola. He wished there were more, hell even just finding a fruit tree would be a godsend at this point, but there was nothing. At least not so far.

He rubbed her back comfortingly until the heaving had stopped. "Sorry," she murmured, wiping at her mouth.

"What for?"

"Slowing us down." She sighed, wishing for something to drink so that she could get the foul taste from her mouth.

"Eh, it ain't so bad," he said gently while helping her back to her feet. She swayed slightly and he let out a sigh as his gaze danced around the empty road. They hadn't seen a single walker in almost two days and he was starting to think it was like the calm before a storm and the idea scared the hell out of him.

"Com'on, girl." He prompted, wrapping an arm around her slender waist. Beth leaned easily against him, regaining the breath she'd lost.

After a few moments her shoulders heaved slightly as if she were going to puke again and Daryl leaned back just enough to avoid any sort of splash-back. When she didn't heave a second time his brows rose. "Alright?" She hummed a 'yeah' and nodded quickly while forcing a smile onto her pale lips. "We'll bunker down at the next house, 'kay?"

Her smile was a little more genuine as she nodded again, hoping there was food in this one. Beth took in a steadily breath before pulling away from him and beginning the slow walk toward shelter. The sun was still high in the sky and as summer was gradually coming on, it beat down on them enough that both were beginning to sweat beneath their packs and jackets. Neither wanted to pause long enough to take their jackets off, though.

The road had been clear of houses for nearly two miles already and both were sure that at some point relatively soon they would have to run into something. When they did, it wasn't what they were hoping for. An old gas station, long since void of windows to the small convenience store, stood with an old shed beside it. Next to the shed was an even older truck with rotten tires that had no hope of going anywhere. What shocked the two most was the black spray painted words on the side of the white structure. "Daryl.." she breathed, clutching his arm for support.

Without putting further thought into the action the girl ripped herself away from him and ran closer. Nailed to the shed was a map that had been laminated to protect it against the weather. Under the map were the words '_Those who arrive, survive.'_ On the map was a location circled in heavy black marker and labeled Terminus.

That wasn't what had drawn the blonde's attention, though. No, what had done it was the writing above the map. The words '_Glenn, Go to Terminus. Maggie._' The black spray paint was slightly faded as if it had been there for a couple of months, but the words were there none the less. It was the first sign that Beth had had since the prison fell almost ten months ago that her sister was alive. "Daryl.." she breathed while looking over at him.

The brunette had come to stand beside her, his gaze locked on Maggie's words. There was no way he could say that it was a different Maggie or Glenn. No way. His eyes dropped then to look over the map that had been placed up. "It'll take us a month to get there.. maybe more, maybe less." He decided. The two were nearly a whole state away and unless they could find reliable transportation there was no way they could get there much sooner.

"So we're going?" She asked, quickly tearing her gaze away from her sisters words.

Daryl looked over her face for a moment before nodding softly in response. Was he certain about going to an unknown town? No. He would do it just because it would make the little blonde happy. If there was even the slightest chance that her sister had made it there alive, or anyone else from the prison, they had to take it, right? "Let's find some food first." He commented with a quick smile forced onto his lips.

Beth nodded softly as she shifted her attention back to the map. "Should we take it with us?"

Daryl hesitated a moment. If Glenn hadn't seen this (and that was always a possibility) then the guy would need the map to get there. With a frown he glanced toward the gas station. "Come on." He motioned her over with the hope of finding something to write with so that they could copy down the map and get where they needed to be.

Inside there wasn't much that hadn't already been snatched away by whomever had visited before. A few bottles of ketchup lay on the floor and while his empty stomach would love nothing more than to drink down a bottle, the acid would probably result in vomiting like Beth had.

The two dug through the barren shelves and the trash that littered the floor. They found a bottle of-surprisingly sealed-pain reliever beneath one shelf, several very much expired granola bars, a couple jugs of milk that had long since exploded from their built up gases, and a couple dented cans of diet cola. He passed one toward the girl with a granola bar. "Eat." He demanded.

"What about you?" She asked in response.

"Just eat." Daryl was hungry, yes, but right now Beth needed it more than he did. When the girl nodded sullenly he turned to continue the search through the place. Behind the counter there were bills scattered on the floor from the open cash register, the coins all gone. If someone were smart enough and had the know-how they could have melted them down into bullets.

He dropped down to look through the space under the counter and found several empty boxes, one box full of plastic shopping bags, an old printer and more money. The redneck had been in the process of standing when an idea occurred to him and dropped back low. He quickly overturned the box stuffed with bags and shook it out. Once the plastic had thumped to the floor a few candy bars and a lighter landed on top with muffled thuds.

He'd never really been one for sugar but the sight of the chocolate was nearly heavenly. Snatching them up, Daryl placed his hands on his knees to stand and paused when he spotted something strapped to the underside of the counter. A gun. After a quick inspection he noted it was still fully loaded. Without hesitation he tucked it into the waistband of his jeans, then snatched a piece of printer paper from the machine and continued his search for a pen. There were a couple on the counter, but none of them looked as though the ink would last long. The summer heats had dried them up.

Still, it was worth a shot. After standing he held up the candy bars to show the girl. Her eyes widened a little as she stepped closer. "Is that..?"

"Chocolate? Yeah.." He grinned and nodded as the blonde looked at the packages as if they were a long lost treasure. In a way they were. "Here, put 'em in your bag." He ordered before heading toward the door. She followed behind, gratefully shoving the chocolate bars into her pack.

"So what now?" She asked from several feet behind.

"We try to copy the map."

An hour later and they were certain they had everything copied properly so that it would lead them to this Terminus. It had taken a lot of time to get anything done with the pens that hadn't wanted to work. Beth had come up with the brilliant idea of soaking their tips into the remains of her very flat soda until they actually worked.

Daryl had to give it to the girl, she was brilliant, he never would have thought of it. "Ready?" He asked as he folded the paper and stuck it into the pocket of his jeans. The girl nodded softly and wrapped one of her arms gently around his own as they walked.

–

They'd taken shelter in a barn about four miles up the road. They would have gone for the house that stood thirty feet off, if it hadn't been burnt to a crisp god knew how long before. The barn was warm enough, quiet too. They'd checked for walkers before climbing up to the loft and scattering some of the hay on the floor to sleep in. Neither intended for their stay to last so long, but it felt good to relax a little, to kick back and get some much needed sleep. While Beth wanted to get a move on to Terminus the very next morning Daryl had protested enough that the girl decided to give it another day.

Both slept through the next night and well into the day. As they were re-packing their bags Beth was overcome with sickness yet again. Other than the severe stomach cramps the girl seemed just fine. A little clammy and feverish from the vomiting, but beyond that fine. Daryl had made sure that she ate quite a bit more than him, thinking that perhaps she was on the verge of being sick and just needed a little more nourishment.

The blonde laid down and took a nap in the hay after drinking down quite a bit of water and when she awoke two hours later everything was fine. She shrugged her shoulders up quickly as he questioned her. "I feel fine now.. The chocolate probably just didn't sit right or something." She stated before, "that was a lot of sugar after months of not really having any." The girl quickly grabbed the near empty canteen of water and took a small sip to help rinse away the foul taste in her mouth.

Daryl thought about it for a moment, then nodded in defeat. It sounded plausible, after all. Too much sugar had upset her stomach enough that she'd had to get rid of it. "My ankle feels better." She piped up and rotated it enough to show that she had just a hint more motion back. It wasn't completely back to normal but she wouldn't have to hobble everywhere either.

"Good, that thing was startin' to be a drag." He teased and smirked softly at her.

The girl rolled her eyes up and laughed before leaning over to press a kiss against his forehead. "Come on, Dixon. Still got a long road ahead of us." She stated, then reached out to grasp his hands. She pulled to try getting him to his feet but the redneck kept his behind firmly planted in the hay with a semi-mischievous expression. "Need a little help here." The girl commented as she tugged a little harder.

With a near silent chuckle he pulled back, yanking the girl into him until his arms wrapped around her waist. "Mm, what are you doin'?" She asked through narrowed eyes, a grin slowly forming on his lips.

"Nothin'." He retorted, sounding innocent. Or, well, as innocent as he possibly could. After grinning again he leaned up to press his lips against hers and the blonde gladly melted into him. Her hands rested in the hay beside his head in the attempt to keep most of her weight off of him. While normally that wouldn't have been a problem, the girl had already put her backpack on and the thing wasn't exactly light.

They held the kiss for several minutes longer, just enjoying the sense of being close to someone. Daryl broke away, panting quietly and playfully shoved at her waist. "Alright, get off'a me, we got shit to do."

Beth scoffed quietly and shoved at his shoulder in response. "_You_ pulled _me_ down, thank you very much."

"And?" He asked with a grin.

The blonde rolled her eyes and laughed quietly as she pushed herself back onto her feet and reached out for his hand. Daryl took hold and when she began to tug at him, he once more pulled her back onto him. "Mm, changed my mind." His lips formed against hers for another moment or two before the girl pulled back.

"Daryl!" She groaned out his name, dragging it out in exasperation.

"Alright, alright." He murmured with a laugh before his hands found her waist to gently help her to her feet, then climbed to his own. Beth shook her head at him, a hint of a smile lingering around her lips and Daryl couldn't find it in him to even attempt to look apologetic.

–

The first week passed without much incident, wandering along the maps path, finding food when they could and shelter when they were able. Several times they had to set up camp in the woods, not like either of them truly minded though. Usually when they had to camp outside one was awake at all times but a couple of times the blonde found herself drifting off while leaning back against a tree on her watch.

It was daylight when Daryl shook her awake, causing the blonde to jerk upright in a bit of a panic. When she saw the brunette standing over her the girl let out a soft sigh and covered her face in her hands. "What's goin' on with you?" Daryl asked now as he settled next to her in the grass.

Beth shook her head softly without pulling her hands away from her face. "I don't know. I'm just... tired all the time." She complained before a yawn stretched her mouth wide.

The redneck couldn't understand how she could be tired at all. She seemed to be getting more sleep than him around every turn. Of course, she also still seemed to be sick, too. The girl found herself throwing up every couple of days for a few hours and then she would be fine again. Something nagged at the back of Daryl's mind but the harder he tried to focus on it the further it hid from him.

The girl rubbed her stomach lightly and glanced up at him, "those crackers all gone?" She asked, once more looking a little green. Without hesitation he yanked them from his bag, while there was only a handful of them left he gladly handed them over. Anything to keep her from vomiting again.

He was starting to feel a little helpless with how to make her better. She wanted so desperately to get to this Terminus and her sister but it was getting to the point that the girl didn't seem to want to go anywhere either because she was just so worn out. He was silent for a short time, watching the girl as she nibbled cautiously at the crackers. Daryl felt like the closer they got to Terminus, the worse off she was. The thought sent a little shiver of fear down his spine.

–

It took close to half an hour for the blonde to look back to normal and be ready to get on with their long days walk. After shoving the handful of crackers back into the bag the two pushed themselves up and began to make their way toward the road. It was quiet, a few birds chirped here and there to make themselves known but other than that it was nearly dead silent.

Daryl glanced toward the blonde who was unusually silent as she shuffled along next to him. Unable to help himself his gaze danced over her pale face, taking in the features he'd memorized months ago. Only now that he were actually looking he noticed something off. Not only was her flesh a shade paler than it had been three weeks ago–and paler than it should have been for someone spending so much time in the sun as they were–but she looked thinner. She'd always had a hint of roundness in her cheeks, which had always added to the girls angelic appearance, but now that he looked there was something much more frail about her.

There were bags under her eyes that hadn't been there two months ago and even her hair appeared to have lost it's luster as the blonde locks looked dull in comparison to that of his memories of the girls features. He frowned slightly in thought before glancing away toward the road.

Beth walked beside him, apparently lost inside her own thoughts and paying little attention to what he was doing. It wasn't an uncommon thing for the two to walk in complete silence but there was something different about that silence now.. as if there were something that the both of them were mentally reaching toward but every time one got close to whatever it was, it was ripped from their grasp.

His gaze slowly danced back toward the girl, brows furrowing as she watched the path she walked, watched where her feet would land next. He caught sight of the beads of sweat lingering on her forehead. Again, Beth swayed on her feet and they led her a couple of steps away from him. Concerned, Daryl reached out and tugged her pack toward him. She snapped to attention for the briefest of moments before a far off look filled her eyes. "Hmm?" She asked as though she were paying attention.

"Nothin'.." he replied and dropped his hand back to his side while they walked.

Barely thirty seconds later and the girl stumbled again, her shoulder glancing off of the tree on her left before she dropped to her hands and knees with her eyes closed tightly. "Beth?" He dropped beside her quickly, hand on her back.

"I'm fine.. Just.. got a little dizzy." Her voice sounded far away as she shook her head. The girl forced a smile as she looked back up at him, "really, I'm okay."

Thoroughly unconvinced, Daryl frowned darkly. His dark blue eyes followed the girls movements as she placed a hand on his shoulder to push herself up to her feet. For all of ten seconds he assumed maybe she was right, just a dizzy spell, but then without warning her legs gave way from under her and the girl crumpled to a heap on the ground.

"Beth!" He cried and rushed to her, turning her quickly onto her side so that he could see her face. His hand tapped hard at her cheek in the attempt to rose her. "BETH!"

**Reviews? I apologize for the cliffhanger.**


	16. Isolation

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language, Major feels**

**Authors Note: This chapter holds more than one little surprise for everyone. Some of you may have figured at least one of them out at the end of the last chapter, though it was subtle. I apologize for the feels here, but they are needed.**

–

Her eyes opened blearily to a blinding white light and the soft thrum of something that sounded vaguely familiar. Her brows furrowed as she blinked rapidly to put everything back into focus. The first thing she saw was a white tiled ceiling, then the soft blue tone to the white walls. The thrumming she'd heard caused her to look around a little more. The sound she'd heard was coming from an IV machine resting beside the bed she was laying in.

She carefully grabbed the railing on the side of the bed to pull herself to sit up straighter, looking around the hospital room she was in. She only knew it was hospital by the antiseptic scent that filled the air. Well, the gown she was covered with was a pretty large indicator too. Her gaze followed the needle that was stuck into the vein on the side of her right wrist up to the IV bags of saline and something she couldn't quite make out.

Beth cleared her throat to try and work out some of the dryness that seemed to stick in her mouth like really thick peanut butter. She quickly looked around for one of those little call buttons and found one wrapped around the railing beside her left hand. Without hesitating she reached out to press the button. Only a few moments later the door opened and Beth felt the breath leave her as if someone had kicked her in the stomach. "Maggie?!"

"Oh my god, Beth! You're awake!"

"Where am I?"

"The hospital? You passed out."

"Where's Daryl?" She asked instead of asking why she was in a hospital or even why she'd passed out. Daryl was the first thing that crossed her mind, the knowledge that he wasn't the first face she'd seen when her eyes opened sort of scared her. Her elder sister shifted uncomfortably before brushing a hand back through her dark hair. "Maggie?"

"Look, you've been out for a while.."

"Maggie, where's Daryl!?" She felt her voice kick up an octave with worry, almost instantly she began looking for her clothes.

"Don't, Beth, don't.."

"Tell me where he is!" She demanded while trying her level best to get the rail of the bed down so that she could get up. It took a moment or two but she managed to drop it beside the bed, and when she did Maggie was at her side to try forcing her to stay in bed..

"Beth, lay down.. please..?" Her sister begged.

"Not until I find Daryl." Beth snapped as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and pushed herself to her feet.

"Beth, sit!" Maggie snapped now causing her younger sister to flash her a dark look. "Beth, please!" The young blonde felt Maggie's hands on her shoulders in the attempt to get her back into the bed. She struggled to get passed her sister and felt the more primal instincts beginning to kick in, wanting to bite and claw at her sister to get away. She didn't do it but she had wanted to, very badly. "Please, don't.." the brunette plead.

"Then tell me whe-" she began shrieking before her elder sister's words cut through the air around her in a shout.

"He's dead!" Almost instantly Beth felt her knees begin to shake and she reached back for the bed to drop herself onto it, eyes wide.

"He... he... No.." Her voice shook as she looked up to her sister, waiting for an answer.

"You guys got here about a two weeks ago, Beth.. he went out with a group of guys to try and find you medicine.. he never came back.."

"I'm.."

"In Terminus." Maggie finished the sentence with a nod and a tiny smile.

"No." Beth felt a fear like nothing else she'd ever felt in her life begin to build within. "I can't be.." She couldn't be in Terminus, Daryl couldn't be dead. It was Daryl. The one who would stand tall at the end of all this while everyone else faded. He was the light at the end of this very dark tunnel and there was no way he wasn't still walking this Earth. This had to be a nightmare, or her sister was lying. She was opting more toward the latter.

"What are you talking about?" Maggie asked now, obviously confused.

"We were still weeks away from Terminus." She stated.

"When you passed out Daryl managed to find a car and drove the rest of the way. You've been asleep a long time, Beth.. I'm sorry.." As Maggie continued to speak Beth felt her legs begin to shake as the world around her spun.

–

The next thing she knew the steady beep of a machine caused her eyes to snap open. She groaned quietly as a hand rose to push back through her pale hair before feeling a tug on her arm. With a glance toward it she spotted the IV and instantly felt her heart kick up. "It wasn't a dream.." she whispered.

"Beth? Hey, you're awake." Another familiar voice said from her right.

"Glenn?" She asked as her gaze turned toward him. The small Asian male smiled softly over at her. Almost instantly she felt her eyes water as the conversation with her sister flooded through her mind. "Glenn, where's Maggie?"

"Hmm? Oh, she went to get something to eat. She's been here for a while and needed something in her stomach. How are you feeling?" He asked, changing the subject.

"I'm fine. Just a little tired." She voiced while pulling her gaze away.

"Maggie said you were awake yesterday, do.. do you remember?" He asked her. Beth swallowed hard, trying not to believe that a whole day had passed already. Instead of speaking she simply nodded her head once without looking at him. She could hear the semi-relieved breath he exhaled. _Probably because he doesn't have to be the one to tell me,_ she thought bitterly and then scolded herself for thinking so harshly.

"How long ago?" She asked in a dull voice.

"Hmm?"

"D-" she stopped herself from saying his name and closed her eyes tightly. "How long ago was it?"

She turned her attention back onto her brother-in-law in time to see him shift uncomfortably in the green chair the room provided. "Ab-about a week and a half."

"So he could come back?" Beth stated firmly. When the male shifted again and glanced toward the door her brows furrowed. "He could come back." She said again, feeling that confidence waver.

Finally, Glenn shook his head and glanced to the floor. She felt her breathing spike as she pushed herself to sit up. At the same time her heart rate increased again, causing the machine beside her to beep in alarm. "Why not?" She asked just before the door burst open.

A nurse that reminded her of Andrea stepped into the room and gave Glenn a stern look. "If you go riling up my patients Mr. Rhee I'll have to force you to leave." She stated as she stepped over to the machine. After pressing a few buttons the rapid beeping cut off and she turned her gaze onto the blonde. "Beth, I'll need you to calm down. You've been through a lot and it would be in everyone's best interest if you just took a couple of deep breaths."

Beth narrowed her eyes up at the woman. "Don't you tell me to calm down." She snapped.

The woman's face hardened, "if it weren't for the fact that-" she cut herself off after glancing toward Glenn. "Just take a couple of breaths and calm yourself." The woman looked as thought she'd nearly spilled some great secret and was greatly chastising herself for it.

"Weren't for what fact?" Beth asked, glancing rapidly between Glenn and the nurse. The woman just forced a smile and shook her head. Glenn shrugged as if he had no idea what the woman was talking about. The blonde felt her irritation growing more and more with every moment. Something was going on and no one was telling her anything!

"Mr. Rhee, don't go getting her excited.." the woman said, almost harshly, before exiting the room again.

"What the hell was she talking about?" Beth snapped. Again, her brother-in-law shrugged his slender shoulders up. "What is going on around here, Glenn?" She asked now in a controlled voice.

"Nothing you need to worry about. Okay? Just.. get better, okay?"

The blonde dropped her head back against the pillow in annoyance. She stared upward at the ceiling for several minutes of silence as the IV still hanging beside her bed continued its steady dripping. When she couldn't bear the silence any longer she cleared her throat. "Why couldn't he come back?" Beth kept her voice as level as she possibly could, even though everything inside wanted her to scream.

"Let's.. let's not talk about that right now.."

"Then what should we talk about? The weather? Oh, look, the sun's out. There, that's out of the way." Her tone was more sarcastic than it had ever been in her life, but there was no stopping it.

Glenn sighed audibly as he stared at her with his chin tucked into his hands and his elbows propped on his knees. She stared back unwaveringly. "Beth, look.."

He was interrupted by the door opening yet again and Beth felt her gaze snap toward it instantly. Her sister flashed an uncomfortable smile toward the both of them, then walked around behind Glenn. After pressing a kiss to the top of his head she grasped his hand and pulled him to his feet. "I need to talk to him a moment. I'll be right back." She told her sister, reaching out a hand to pat the girls arm.

Beth felt her temper flare in a way it had never done before. As the couple slipped out of the room and the door closed behind them the blonde had the urge to throw something, anything. Alas, there was nothing within reach. Instead she clenched her fists tightly and ground her teeth, fighting every urge to scream and shout and rage. It took every ounce of control not to rip the IV from her arm so that she could just.. go.

Beth froze, though, when she heard shouts on the other side of the door between her sister and brother-in-law. The blonde couldn't make out the words, just the slightly muffled sounds of raised voices. Through the small rectangle of glass she could see Maggie's arms crossed sternly over her chest with a look of irritation etched into her features. She could only see part of Glenn's face, but he looked as if he were trying to be just as stern. After a moment he shook his head, muttered something and stormed off.

Maggie's hands rose to cover her face, her composure slipping as she heaved a deep sigh. A part of Beth felt badly for the elder girl, knowing that Maggie hated any arguing with Glenn, but there was the more dominate part that was glad her sister was aching over something as badly as she was. As soon as the blonde realized this she felt even worse.

Her gaze shifted to the window, watching a bird flutter passed her window and wondered just how Terminus had the resources to keep a hospital going. She wondered just how many other people were in the place, how many people were in Terminus. Chewing on her lip Beth realized it didn't really matter. Not without Daryl. Sure, she'd wanted to come here to find her sister, to find her family. Had she known it would cost her Daryl, Beth wasn't so sure she would make that choice a second time.

She'd been so lost in feeling bad for herself that she hadn't heard Maggie come back into the room until the elder girls voice shattered her thoughts. "Hey.."

Beth slowly shifted her gaze toward the voice, her pale eyes dancing over her sister's pretty face. She'd always been a little jealous of Maggie, honestly. She was the majorly pretty one, the boys all fawned over Maggie. She was tall and funny and witty. Beth was.. just Beth. After a moment she offered a simple "hey" back.

Her sister claimed the seat Glenn had previously occupied, taking up the same stance he'd been in before, too. Chin in her hands, elbows on her knees, eyes locked against the girl confined to bed. Beth stared back, waiting for the woman to say something first. Her hope was that it would have something to do with the questions she'd asked Glenn, but instead the brunette smiled lightly. "Carl and Rick made it here with Michonne."

"Oh?" She asked, a brow raising slightly.

"Mhmm. Tyreese showed up about a week before with Mika, Lizzie and Judith."

"Judith's okay?"

"Yeah, I guess Tyreese took the girls and just.. ran when the prison fell. He wound up here not long after me, Sasha and Bob showed up. Week later and Carl, Rick and Michonne were here."

"Who else?"

Maggie shook her head with a little frown. "That's it from our group.. until you and Daryl showed up, that is." Almost instantly the brunette looked as though she regretted saying the name.

"Glenn said there's no hope of him coming back.." the girl said in a small voice, looking to her sister for guidance.

"I'm sorry, Beth."

"Maggie. Please. What happened?" She asked, feeling the tears sting her eyes as she plead for answers.

The elder girl frowned and looked out the window for a moment as if debating with herself on whether it was a good idea to tell her or not. Beth had almost given up hope that Maggie would tell her anything when the woman spoke, "Terminus has a lot of things you wouldn't expect. We've got fresh water and power from solar panels and even from a couple windmills just outside of town. It's a bit of a fortress, ten foot high walls everywhere so the walkers can't get in. We've got farms and gardens and stores. Oh god, Beth there's clothes and shoes. We've got fresh food and this amazing hospital for when people are sick.

But we don't have much when it comes to medical supplies, they run out pretty quick. We send out groups of five or six to go to hospitals and find whatever we can." Maggie paused a moment, taking a steadying breath before she sat down on the edge of Beth's bed and took the girls hand. "You guys got here about two weeks ago and you were pretty sick.. actually, you looked dead. I was so scared and I ain't never seen Daryl act the way he did. Glenn figured it out first." The brunette told her with tears shining in her own eyes. "First couple of days he wouldn't leave your side cause he was so scared you'd just.. go.

Then the doctors told him we needed more medicine to get you better and he rounded up a group and they got into a couple cars and just left, Glenn went with them. They were gone a week and then they got back and..." she swallowed hard as her gaze danced over her little sisters face. "I'm sorry, Beth."

The blonde squeezed her hand, urging the woman to continue. Even though a part of her really didn't want to hear the rest, she knew that she had to. "They found some stuff at the hospital but they got overwhelmed by walkers.. They were all trying to fight them off and Daryl got pulled back. Glenn said they tried to pull him out but by they time they did he.. he was already gone." Beth felt her heart shattering into little pieces as her sister told her the truth. "They.. they brought his body back, gave him what funeral we could.."

The blonde didn't realize she'd started crying until a choking gasp escaped her. Her shoulders heaved and shook with every sob that escaped her. Maggie quickly moved closer and wrapped her young sister into a tight hug, holding her as closely as possible. "I'm so sorry, Beth.. I wish it could have been different." The brunette murmured into her hair.

–

It took close to half an hour for Beth to settle herself down and the tears to stop flowing. When they did she leaned back on the pillow and stared at the ceiling. Never in all her life had she felt so completely broken, so completely lost. Daryl had been what was giving her the strength to keep going forward every day. While a part of that had been because all she'd had was Daryl for close to ten months, she knew that in part it was because she had never loved someone as much as she had him.

The crying had worn the girl out, both mentally and physically, but before she could allow herself the chance to rest she had one more question that she needed an answer to. Sucking in a deep breath her gaze shifted back to her sister. "Why's the nurse so worked up about me? She freaked out on Glenn for getting me too excited and said something about 'if it weren't for the fact' and then shut up." Beth chewed on her lower lip for a moment before asking what was really plaguing her mind. "What's wrong with me?"

A sad smile tugged on her sisters full lips before she leaned in to press a kiss to the blonde's pale forehead. "There's nothing _wrong_ with you." She answered, then shifted the hand that had brushed back through the girls hair down to lay across her abdomen.

Beth looked between her sisters hand and face a few times, her brows furrowing up in confusion. When the elder sister saw it wasn't sinking in she laughed quietly and gently raised her hand up a couple of inches from the girls stomach, then formed a faint arch with her hand.

As the reality of it sank in her eyes widened drastically. "No.." she whispered and shook her head quickly.

"You were sick because you weren't getting enough to eat.. everything was going to the baby.. You passed out because both of you were in danger of dying. If Daryl hadn't gotten you here when he did, you'd both be dead."

"I'm... pregnant?!" Her voice rose several octaves in surprise, her hands dropping beneath the blanket to feel her stomach. It was with shock that she noticed the firm lump under her fingers. It was subtle, but it was there. "And.. it's okay?" She asked in worry, thinking of Lori.

Maggie nodded with a bright smile tugging her lips. "You're both fine now, you just need to take it easy until they can be sure that we're not gonna lose one or both of you."

Beth shook her head in amazement, tenderly touching the small mass under her fingertips again.

–

**Reviews? I apologize for the cliffhanger.**


	17. Seed

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I know how I ended the last chapter and I'm so sorry. I know that a lot of you are probably hating me so badly right now and I'm sorry for that. No worries, things are changing this chapter, some of you might squeal even!**

–

Her pale eyes opened slowly before dancing around the dimly lit space that she was currently laying in. She'd half expected to see the blindingly bright light of the hospital room, instead she saw a room painted in shades of brown that looked even darker than it should have in the small bit of light coming through the dingy window higher on the wall than she was used to. Her brows furrowed slightly with confusion, wondering when they had moved her from the hospital. With a frown her gaze began darting around the room, gasping quietly at the face at her side.

Daryl sat beside her, staring expectantly. He looked worried and she honestly couldn't stop herself from nearly breaking into tears. Blinking rapidly her gaze danced around the room once more before landing back onto his face. "Where are we?" She asked roughly, her through scratchy and dry. Beth wanted nothing more than to reach out and pull him close and never let him go.

"Dunno.. found a place to sit in 'til you were okay.." he murmured, eyes darting rapidly over her face as if searching for something wrong. She needed to be okay. She had to be. Daryl wasn't sure what he would do if she weren't.

"How did we get here?" She asked now.

"You passed out an' I couldn't wake you back up.. I picked you up an' jus' sorta ran 'til I found this place." He told her, barely hiding the terror in his voice when he'd mentioned not being able to wake her.

"How long was I out?" She shifted to try and get herself out of the bed she'd been laying in.

Daryl promptly put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back down without hesitation. "Three days.."

Three days!? Had she really slept for three whole days!? She shook her head and quickly tried to wrap it around the idea that everything before had been a dream but was finding it exceptionally difficult. Everything in that hospital room had seemed so real. Especially Maggie and Glenn and that little lump she'd felt in her abdomen. Just thinking about it caused a soft flutter in her stomach.

"I was startin' to think you'd never wake back up." He confided, eyes locked boldly on her face.

Beth cringed internally at the pained tone to his voice as she reached out to take his hand in her own. "I just.. I don't know what happened. The last thing I remember is eating crackers by that tree." She lied, vividly remembering the dream that she wasn't so certain was one. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was worrying that this was a dream.

"An' then we got up an' started walkin' toward the road and you fell twice. Said you was dizzy. You got up again an' I thought everythin' was alright, then you dropped and wouldn't wake up." He informed her before the hand that now clutched hers raised to his lips, pressing kisses against her soft flesh.

The blonde frowned softly as she pushed herself to sit up once more before her stomach grumbled at her. "Mm, we got anything to eat?" She asked, hating that it was one of the first things on her mind but if she'd really been out cold for three days it wasn't much of a surprise.

Daryl quickly nodded and stood, "whatchu hungry for?" He asked her in a way that made her brows furrow up in confusion. "Guess I left that part out, huh?" His question held a hint of laughter that made her frown.

"You're clean.." Beth noticed, his face void of the dirt that always seemed to accumulate from being outside so much. His hair even looked conditioned.

Daryl smirked slightly over at her in response. "Think you can stand?" He asked and when the girl nodded hesitantly he reached out. With an arm around her waist to steady the girl Daryl carefully guided her to her feet. No sooner was she on them her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and held him close. The memories of the dream still so completely fresh in her mind that she just needed to hold onto him for a moment. When they broke apart he began walking her slowly out of the small room she'd been sleeping in. Almost instantly her eyes widened. There were shelves upon shelves stocked with food, soap, amenities that she'd been missing for close to a year and a half. Her pale eyes darted back and forth at the soda, the pudding and chips, the instant meals, the bottles of water and boxes of cereal, crackers and snacks, and the cans upon cans of food.

"What is all this?" She asked while slowly revolving in place to take it all in. An open door to her right led to a bathroom, the door beside it held a furnished bedroom much like the one they had just come out of. To her left was a staircase that led up to a flat expanse of ceiling.

"I found it in the house." He laughed quietly as he looked around briefly before pointing upward. "Waddn't a walker in sight, but I kept hearin' 'em. With you bein' out cold an' all I knew I had to find 'em since you couldn't run an' I wouldn't be able to carry you that far. So I went walkin' around the house. Door to the basement was hidden under a rug in the livin' room. Two walkers was down here, figured they'd lived here or somethin'. Got rid of 'em and came down an' found all this. We been down here since." He explained while looking around. "These people was smart too, figured out how to get a store of water for showerin' an' shit. They musta had some solar panels or somethin' somewhere cause we've got a little bit of light after the sun goes down."

"Who do you think they were?" She asked as she looked toward the bathroom, longing to get into the shower.

"Prob'ly some'a them doomsday people." He said and laughed quietly. Those were the sort of people he used to laugh at but right now he was singing their crazy praises. If not for whoever those people were he and Beth would probably be dead.

"God, there's enough food here to last a year.." She breathed out. As she moved to take a step from Daryl the girl felt light-headed again and quickly clutched to his arm.

"And that's enough for now." He stated and lifted her off of her feet. Daryl carefully laid her back in the bed she'd been in before and brushed a hand back through her hair with a look of concern still stuck on his features.

"I'm alright.." she told him. Daryl nodded softly in acknowledgment but didn't look as though he actually believed it.

"Let's get you somethin' to eat." He stated and pushed himself to his feet. Her pale gaze followed him as he walked out of the room. A part of her wanted to say screw the food and just keep him close but she knew she needed to eat something. Her head lay back against the pillow, eyes closing slightly to relax before she felt a small flutter in her stomach that caused her brows to furrow.

It wasn't an 'I'm hungry' sort of feeling. Swallowing hard the girl glanced toward the door where she could see the brunette searching the shelves for something that wouldn't upset her empty stomach, then she quickly reached down and unfastened her jeans. Her fingers gently pressed against her stomach. When they brushed across the small lump her eyes widened. All thought of Daryl being here and being a dream that she'd concocted became more real to her and she felt her eyes burn with tears. It'd been the same lump she'd felt in Terminus. Subtle, but there if you were truly looking for it. As her fingers gently pressed against the lump she felt that little flutter again.

Hearing his shuffling footsteps the girl quickly raised her hands and wiped her face, determined to make what little time she would have with this dream count. God only knew when she would wake up.

"How 'bout some chocolate puddin' and Gatorade?" He asked, holding up the packages with a quick grin.

Beth smiled back brightly and nodded. "Sounds good." She breathed while pushing herself to sit up. He settled down on the edge of the bed, passing her the bottle first.

As he worked to pull the foil protection from the top of the pudding cup he glanced up at her, "whenever you're back to feelin' better we can gather up some of this stuff an' and get back on the road to Terminus. Maybe when we get there we could bring some people back here and get the rest." He offered the cup to her before leaning back across her legs.

Beth nodded but said nothing as she took a bite from the plastic spoon she'd dipped into the cup.

His dark blue eyes danced over her face with concern before she finally forced a smile. "I'm fine." She promised and while he nodded, the male looked wholly unconvinced.

After she'd eaten three pudding cups and drank the entire bottle of Gatorade the blonde pulled him to lay beside her, gladly snuggling into his side as his arms wrapped around her. He held onto her for a few minutes before laughing quietly. "You stink.." he murmured.

"So do.." she'd cut herself off in the process of telling him that he did as well, realizing that he really didn't. Perhaps it was whatever soap there was here, unless he'd managed to find deodorant. The girl had to wonder how in the world she could smell him so perfectly if this were a dream. It was so hard to figure out which was the dream world. The one where she was in Terminus with her sister and Daryl was dead, or the one where she was with Daryl and worrying about her sister.

Her hand rose to gently stroke his cheek with her thumb, a sigh falling from her lips as she looked over his pale face. After a few moments of silence Daryl chuckled under his breath. "Com'on girl, you need to get clean." He stated while helping her to her feet once more.

Daryl walked with her to the small bathroom and kicked on the water, then smiled and slipped back out of the room to give her a bit of privacy with the promise of bringing her clean clothes. The blonde looked at the shower as the water slowly warmed, though Daryl had told her it wouldn't get too warm and wouldn't stay that way for long either. With a sigh she pulled her filthy clothes off and climbed into the warm water, letting it run over her.

There was a bottle of vanilla scented shampoo and conditioner in the shower along with a honey scented body wash and the girl gratefully washed up as quickly as she could to conserve on the warm water. Even then, by the time she'd stepped out of the shower she was shivering.

A set of clean clothes rested on the small counter top beside the sink with her brush on top and a clean towel hung on the rack beside the shower. Beth hadn't even heard Daryl come in and figured it must have been while she was washing out her hair. After wrapping the towel tightly around herself the girl pull the brush through her hair, easily working out the tangles thanks to the conditioner. As she brushed through her hair the girl noticed that the mirror above the sink reflected the one hanging on the back of the door and wondered why she hadn't seen it before.

Getting a sudden idea the blonde turned and pulled the towel from around herself, dropping it onto the counter behind her as she shifted to look at herself in the mirror. Her fingers carefully brushed across the bump she'd felt in her abdomen earlier, the mirror reflecting the smallest of pouches forming. She once more felt a little flutter in her stomach that made her heart skip a beat. Chewing at her lip Beth quickly shook her head and pulled on the clean clothes.

A part of her didn't want to believe it, it just sounded illogical. For her to see the little lump that she did and feel little flutters she'd have to be at least two months along.. right? She frowned as she thought of Lori, trying to remember everything about the woman's pregnancy, but really she didn't remember much. Until Lori had come alone Beth had honestly never been around a pregnant person. All of her cousins were older than her, her siblings older. She'd never had a friend with a pregnant mother or sibling. Sure, they'd talked about all of this in her Home Ec. class but Beth barely recalled it.

It didn't matter, though, because the more the girl thought about it, the more plausible it really was. Her fingers traced the small curve in her stomach through her t-shirt before shaking her head faintly and stepping out of the bathroom. Daryl was looking over the shelves of food as if he were trying to take inventory and she couldn't help but to smile faintly.

After stepping closer to him, her arms wrapped around his waist to lean herself against his chest, her eyes closing as his arms quickly wound around her. His chin rested on the top of her head as he kept his gaze on the shelves, at least until she yawned quietly. Not quiet enough, though, because he leaned back enough to look at her. "Still tired?"

The girl nodded faintly in response before shaking her head quickly. "I don't want to go to sleep, though." She voiced, terrified that if she did she would wake back up in a world without him in it. The thought was utterly heartbreaking.

He looked at her with furrowed brows, "why?"

Beth shrugged instead of giving a response and tightened her grip on him as if that were all the answer she needed to give. Daryl held onto her for a couple minutes longer before he pulled back a little. "Come on, you should get some more sleep." He stated while pulling her back to the bedroom.

The little blonde protested for a moment or two, then sighed quietly and walked beside him. As much as she didn't want to sleep she felt that if she didn't lay back down soon it would result in her passing out again. That would only result in him worrying more. Of course, there was still that little voice at the back of her head that screamed that if she went to sleep now, when she awoke it would be in the hospital room.

Honestly, she'd never been so confused in all of her life. As she lay down in the bed and Daryl curled in close beside her she clung to him in a way that she knew she'd never done before. Sure, she'd laid with him or curled up to him, there had been several nights when she'd clutched him in her sleep from worry of the walkers, but never like she was doing now. His fingers combed through her hair, obviously sensing something wrong.

Daryl took in a breath to ask, but the girl quickly looked up at him, "I love you, Daryl." She whispered as her pale eyes locked against his. She was terrified of what falling asleep was going to do to her. All Beth knew was that before this dream ended, he had to know the truth. He had to know that she loved him and she needed to hear him say it in return.

Before he had the chance to respond she leaned up and kissed him deeply. The elder male hesitated for a moment in concern, though kissed her back tenderly. His hand rose to gently cup her cheek, holding onto the kiss as long as she wantd. When she finally pulled back to regain her breath he pressed his lips against her forehead. "Love you, too." He told her with a soft smile, the worry still evident in his eyes. She wanted to tell him why she was acting this way but there was that part of her that worried if her mouth opened she would snap back awake and he would be gone. She couldn't risk his leaving her arms. Not now.

Beth hugged him tightly as she leaned against him, fighting sleep as hard as she possibly could for as long as she possibly could. Even though she had slept for three days her body still needed sleep. It didn't matter, though because she didn't want to give in to unconscious, not when there was a chance of his vanishing. Beth did all she could to keep herself awake but the warmth was quickly invading her body and clouding her mind. The girl was so utterly exhausted that sleep eventually took hold of her and she drifted off in his arms.

–

**Reviews? Where will our lovely Beth awaken?! In Daryl's warm arms or in the hospital with her sister? Whether it's with Maggie or Daryl is the blonde truly pregnant? Tune in to find out!**


	18. Home

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I know that I confused many of you with the last couple of chapters. I have no apologies.**

–

Daryl brushed his fingers through the girl's blonde hair as she slept against his chest. Her grip on him had loosened when she'd finally allowed herself to drift off into unconsciousness and while he welcomed any opportunity to hold her, he couldn't help but to be a little concerned about it. She rarely ever clung to him like that, even when they were worried about something together or when they were 'together'-together. It didn't exactly bring on inspirational thoughts. When she'd grasped him and kissed him as deeply as she had, even if it had only been briefly, Daryl had felt that worry increase.

He felt that he had every right to worry about the girl. While she hadn't thrown up once since she'd woken up, she was still incredibly tired. Even if she were just extremely tired he didn't think she would need to sleep for three days to catch up, especially considering he'd been getting a lot less than her lately. Something more was happening and he didn't know what. Hell, even with as exhausted as he was he'd barely slept in those three days. He was lucky to have caught a couple hours here or there, if only, because he'd been so damned worried about her.

Even though she looked a little better today, the blonde still looked sickly. She was still pale, her face had a bit of gauntness about it that he'd never really seen there before. Something wasn't right and he didn't know how to figure out what it was. She was sick.. but he didn't know with what or how serious it could be. He'd watched her over the last couple of days and while the supremely sickly appearance had begun to diminish, he couldn't get over how horrible she still looked. It scared him more than he really wanted to tell her. Especially when she seemed so weak already.

His plan was to stay within the little bunker for a couple of days until the girl could walk on her own for more than a couple of hours. Hell, she'd have to stay awake for more than a couple of hours, first. He sighed quietly as he looked down at her pretty face. More than once over the span of those three days when she'd been out cold he had wondered if she would ever wake up, or if she'd die like that. _She would at least die painlessly, _he'd assumed.

Daryl had only ever worried about the morality of another person a couple of times since the start of all this. He didn't worry for Rick and Carl because the two were tough as nails and could take care of one another, so long as they were together. He didn't worry about Michonne because she could take care of herself. Michonne didn't need another soul to get her through this. Sure, he'd worried once or twice for Carol–before they'd met up again–but he knew that she could also take care of herself.

The only person he'd ever truly worried about was Merle. Until recently. Sure, he'd worried about Beth from the moment their unlikely companionship began but it wasn't the same as the way he worried about her now. Not only did he worry about her for her own sake, Daryl worried about her for his own. A part of him was certain that if something happened and he lost Beth, his sanity would vanish with her.

Daryl had never put much stock in religion or God, he'd never had much of a reason to. His dad had been a drunk who'd beat the crap out of he and his brother, his mom had long since learned to keep her mouth shut and do whatever her husband asked of her. There wasn't much room for 'God' in that kind of life. And then when the world fell there wasn't a place there either. What sort of God could allow something like this to happen. Not just for it to have happened but to all of the good. There were probably only a handful of truly, wholly good people left in this world. No all-mighty being would have allowed that.

Even with that, even without believing that there was a God out there to help, Daryl had found himself praying to anyone who would listen to help the girl, to make sure she was alright. He knew that without her he wouldn't make it much further. Sure, he'd keep on living because that was what he should do but it wouldn't be much of a life. Not without her.

Had he expected to find this kind of.. anything when the world fell? No. Not really. He'd actually condemned himself to die alone because the thought of allowing anyone close enough to touch scared the shit out of him. He had Merle and that had been all he'd needed but somehow the little blonde had gotten under his skin. She'd gotten in his head and made him realize that not everything in this world was shit. There was still something to look forward to every day, a reason to get out of bed and keep walking.

He sighed quietly as his fingers combed through her soft hair, the action stirring up the vanilla scent in her clean hair. Much like the blonde had done, Daryl fought the sleep that tried to take over his mind. He'd been awake for so long already, he could carry on for a couple of hours, right? No. It only took a few more minutes of the amazing smell of vanilla and the feel of her slowly drying hair under his fingertips before he drifted off as well.

–

Beth murmured something in her sleep before jerking awake, her pale eyes quickly searching the room to determine her location. Daryl lay beside her, lips parted, hair in his face, breathing deeply in his sleep. A smile pulled on her lips as she realized she was home. Her father had always told her '_Home is where the heart is, Beth_' and where the redneck was, her home was. As the thought danced across her mind she frowned slightly, wondering when the hell she'd become so sappy. She'd never been like this before. Perhaps it had something to do with having lost him.

_But, you never lost him_ a voice in the back of her head stated. Truthfully, she hadn't but the dream had been vivid enough that she'd really believed she had.

She reached out to knock a strand of dark hair away from his pale face before brushing her hand across his cheek. The contact made the man jerk, his eyes snapping wide open for a moment before softening with a quick smile as he saw her pale face hovering over his own. "Mm, how long you been up?" He asked in that sleepy-grunting way that he had.

"Couple minutes." She responded with a smile. Daryl yawned and stretched his arms high above his head before relaxing with his arms right back around her. She could tell that he wanted to go back to sleep and honestly a part of her wanted to as well but she felt like she needed to stay awake, if only for a little while. The blonde couldn't stop the grin that tugged on the corners of her mouth at the sight of his head lolling on the pillow as he began to slip back out of consciousness, then quickly jerked himself back awake. "Go back to sleep." She murmured softly, caressing his cheek.

"Mm not tired." The brunette hummed sleepily causing her to laugh quietly.

"No, not at all," she teased as his grip tightened around her as if clutching a teddy bear to his side.

She snickered softly and leaned in to press a kiss to his jaw line. No sooner had she laid her head against his shoulder in a half-assed attempt to go back to sleep the little flutter in her stomach brought her back around. Swallowing hard, the girl reached down to press her fingertips against the firm bump. She was still completely amazed by it and as Daryl smacked his lips in his sleep she wondered how in the world she was going to tell him.

It just didn't seem like something one brought up easily in a conversation. Her teeth sank into her lower lip as she tried to figure out a good way to tell him but came up empty. With a sigh the girl leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek, then slid out from under his arms. She figured that while she was still awake she might as well get to know the place they were holed up in.

The room they were sleeping in was painted a dull brown, the carpet was thick and beige. Other than the bed there was a stand on one side of the bed with a small lamp and a candlestick beside it. A window that neither her nor Daryl would be able to squeeze through was right next to the ceiling, it was dirty and didn't let in much light but she could tell that it helped.

After a quick glance back toward his silently snoring face she slipped from the room to allow herself the chance to wander a little. Beside the darkened stairs leading upward was a tall shelf that she hadn't noticed before most likely it was because she hadn't been looking all that hard earlier. She stepped closer and felt a little smile tug on her lips at the sight of books lining the first couple of shelves. Her fingers brushed over the binding of one as her gaze wandered over the next shelf. Games of all different sorts, board games mostly, were arranged neatly on top. She couldn't help the laugh that slipped out as she spotted** The Game of Life** and wondered if she could get Daryl to play a game with her. The deck of cards definitely looked appealing, too.

Pushing herself away from the shelf, the blonde wandered toward the food supply. The longer she looked, the more she saw and every bit of it looked amazing. Beth had to wonder how many of these shelters were out there in the world. Her fingers brushed over a box of mac-n-cheese and felt her stomach rumble slightly. Reminding herself that she'd just eaten not too long ago she quickly pushed herself away. A small 'kitchen' lay behind the wall of shelves with a six foot long counter, a tiny sink and hotplate. There were a couple of pans stacked on the counter beside several plates, a couple of glasses and a handful of assorted plastic silverware and cooking utensils.

A small table was pushed against the wall with two chairs around it and an ashtray in the center. Several cigarette butts were stubbed out in the center and Beth had to wonder if they were Daryl's. Around the space she noted a few windows, not enough to keep the place brightly lit, but enough to at least see where she was going. There was a single bulb hanging from the ceiling of every room except the one she currently occupied where she counted three. Daryl had mentioned having a small store of light when the sun went down from the solar panels and she wondered if the panels were dirty. If they were cleaned properly the power here could be amazing.

The girl had already seen the bathroom but couldn't stop herself from wandering into it anyway. It was amazing to know that there was a place to take a shower, even if it were only a brief one, as well as go to the bathroom. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been able to use a toilet that she could flush and couldn't help but to wonder where all of the water from this place was going without the city/county water pipes functioning. Or may they still did to a certain extent. She wasn't sure.

After stepping out of the bathroom she peered into the second bedroom. This room was close to half the size of the other and furnished the same with the exception of it holding a twin bed instead of a full. There was a dresser in this one and the girl couldn't stop herself from wandering over to it. The first drawer was full of ladies undergarments, all of which were far too big to have fit her even if she'd wanted them, which she didn't. The second held a handful of socks and underwear for men along with a couple of mens shirts that looked as though they could fit Daryl. The next drawer held womens shirts and some shorts (also far too large to fit the little blonde). The next was full of jeans.

With a little frown she closed the drawers and stepped out of the room. In the doorway her steps faltered slightly and her hands shot out to grasp the door frame until the dizzy spell passed her by. With a breath to stabilize herself the blonde looked toward she and Daryl's room. The male was still asleep in the same position he'd been in when she'd walked out of the room.

Beth considered going and laying back down but figured if she truly were pregnant and this wasn't some crazed figment of her imagination, then she might need something more to eat. While looking over the shelves of food she frowned. "What I wouldn't give for some eggs and toast.." she murmured before grabbing the bag of pancake mix off of the shelf.

Twenty minutes later and Daryl stumbled out of the bedroom, rubbing at his eyes as he staggered toward the small kitchen. The scent of the pancakes having woken him. Beth was just finishing flipping the last pancake–with little chocolate chips inside that she'd found on the shelf while searching for syrup–in the small skillet when his shuffling footsteps caused her to turn. "Hey!" She smiled brightly at him.

His brows furrowed for a moment as he leaned against the counter beside her, "what're ya doin'?" He asked sleepily. As she'd noted so many times before in the last couple of months, she loved the way he woke up. The sleepy little look to his face and the husky tone to his voice.

"Training for the circus?" She asked back in answer, barely hiding the smirk that tugged on her lips. The brunette flashed her a no-nonsense look that caused her to laugh quietly. "I was hungry." She answered and shrugged before holding out a plate toward him. "I remember you saying you missed chocolate pancakes."

"That was...months ago." He replied, his voice still rough with sleep.

Her shoulders shrugged up quickly, "doesn't mean I didn't remember." She countered, pushing the plate more forcefully into his hands.

After taking the last pancake off of the burner, the girl poured just a little syrup onto her plate. She then reached out and shredded the pancakes with her fingers and dipped one into the pool of syrup. Only after she'd put the bite in her mouth did the blonde realize he was watching her curiously. A shy little grin spread over her lips causing him to laugh and shake his head. "You're weird." He told her before setting his plate onto the counter.

As if to one-up her the redneck rolled one of his pancakes into a tube, then dipped it into her syrup puddle before taking a bite. "I'm weird?" She countered and laughed.

He nodded softly, smirking down at her as he dipped the pancake into her syrup once more before shoving the remainder into his mouth. "Mhm." He nodded, then backed away from her to walk to the shelf. A couple of moments later and he returned with a bottle of water for the both of them. "Thanks." He murmured, carefully playing with the cap on his bottle.

"For what?" Beth asked after swallowing the bite she'd taken.

His shoulders shrugged up while glancing toward their plates, then back to her face. Beth honestly didn't know how after they had spent almost a full year together he could still be this awkward and shy around her. Instead of forcing him to say more she smiled and nodded softly. "You're welcome."

The rest of the meal passed in considerable silence as he watched her, curious as to how she was actually feeling and worrying if she would drop to the floor again. She stared back, trying to figure out how to spill the words that he needed to know. Somehow, she was certain she'd never truly be able to tell him.

The thought of just waiting until her stomach had expanded enough for him to notice was actually rather appealing but then another thought hit her that made her nearly choke on a chocolate chip as she fought not to laugh. The scenario played through her head of her with a slightly rounded belly and Daryl freaking out about how she hadn't told him and her innocently staring back and stating that she hadn't known.

When she'd choked his brows furrowed, almost instantly his position changed as if he were ready to jump into action at a moments notice. Beth quickly shook her head, "went down wrong.." she lied and coughed.

Daryl nodded softly, though didn't visibly relax, and went back to eating. After the girl took a long drink from her water bottle she actually had to fight not to burst into giggles again. The redneck reached up to brush a hand through her hair, gently tugging on the ends, then wiped their plates off before shifting to rest his hips back against the counter, eyes on her. "How you feelin'?" He asked now as his eyes danced over her pale face.

"Little tired, but okay." She promised as she looked back at him. "Play a game with me?" Beth hoped that if she could do something 'normal' he might believe that she were actually as okay as she was trying to seem. While she still felt nauseous and a little weak, she really did feel better.

His brows furrowed at the sudden change in conversation. Daryl stood still for several moments, trying to process the shift before, "o-okay?" was murmured.

Beth snickered under her breath, quickly rushing over to the shelf stocked with games and grabbing **Life**. As she bounce back toward the elder male she heard him groan. "That one?"

"Mhm!" She grinned while setting it onto the small table. His dark eyes watched her for a moment before they rolled upward with a muffled grunt as he sauntered over to the table and flopped himself down into a chair.

**Reviews? **


	19. Clear

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

–

The next couple of days were filled with catching up on sleep, enjoying the feel of a warm shower and playing games together while the girl regained her strength. Beth could tell that Daryl didn't enjoy them as much as she did but he'd also commented that he'd never really played any of them like she had. Of course, when he kicked her ass in **Monopoly**, his attitude changed dramatically.

With the deck of cards she'd found the girl taught him how to play slap-jack.. or, well, she'd tried to but in one over excited moment he'd whacked the back of her hand hard enough to leave a red welt and he refused to play after that, even though she assured him that she was fine. When Beth was able to stay awake for the whole day, Daryl was certain they could begin to make the preparations for the remainder of the trip to Terminus.

When he began talking about it, Beth felt uneasy. Her dream flashed through her mind, the words 'he's dead' repeated a horrid mantra in her sister's voice that sent a shiver down her slender spine. She tried to remind herself that it had been a dream, nothing more. It'd been a horrid hallucination of her exhausted mind. That's it.

Besides, there was one big difference between the trip they were about to make and the one that occurred in her dream. She was awake. In the dream Daryl had had to find a way to get her there while she was unconscious, not this time. Things would be different. There would be no need for Daryl to go off in search of medicine for her because she wasn't that sick, therefore he wouldn't die.

Even though she'd realized this yesterday the girl had had to repeat it to herself several times just to talk herself into actually going to Terminus. While she truly wanted to see Maggie, she was scared of losing him.

"D'you hear me?" His deep voice crashed her back to reality with a faint jump of surprise.

"Hmm?" She asked, looking up from the bottle of water she'd been absently staring at.

"Sure yer okay to make the walk?" He asked, brows furrowing. "Could try that old car these people left in the garage?"

The thought of arriving in Terminus by car sent another shiver through her. "No, I don't mind walking, Daryl. I'm fine, just lost in my thoughts." She promised.

Daryl watched her for a moment, then settled into the chair across from her, brows up. "What'chu thinkin' 'bout?" He asked.

Beth smiled and shook her head. "I don't even know." She lied, though sounded innocent enough that Daryl seemed to believe her. At least, he didn't question it. The girl hadn't told him about her dream, yet, if only because she was still scared to death that _this_ was the dream and by talking about it, would shatter the dream world and send her crashing back to the reality where he no longer existed. Sure, she largely believed that this was reality, but there was always something nagging at the back of her mind.

"So when do we go?" She asked now while trying to instill as much energy in the question as possible.

"Whenever." He shrugged. Their bags had been packed the night before, all of their clothes were clean. While Beth had rested one day Daryl had washed all of their dirty clothes in the shower and left them to hang until they were dry. There was a stock of food in both of their bags that they could eat while on the go. Daryl had already mapped out the remainder of their path as well as marked the house on their map for future reference. According to Daryl if they only settled for breaks every couple of hours for a few minutes at a time and then settled down for a couple of hours at night, they should make it to Terminus within a week, if they hauled ass. Two if they walked a little slower.

While the thought of near constant movement wasn't all that appealing to the girl since she was still a little weak, it was better than nothing at all. Her pale eyes danced over his face with a quick nod. She pulled the blonde curls tightly behind her head and braided them to keep them out of her way for the walk as he went back to getting things around. The crossbow was fully armed, the remainder of the bolts were rolled up in the blanket that was still strapped to the blonde's backpack along with the arrows for her own bow. "Should look into gettin' you a better bow." He stated while looking at the flimsy one they had made. Sure, it served it's purpose but there had to be something better out there.

"I like my bow, thank you very much." She retorted with a smirk on her lips as she tucked the water bottle into the folds of her pack.

"Yeah, but it ain't gonna take much for this thing to snap.." he stated while bending it slightly as if to emphasize his point.

"You break it and I might have to hurt you." She teased before smirking, "or just take your bow." The blonde nodded toward the crossbow, causing him to shake his head quickly.

"You couldn't handle it, girl." He teased back, then passed her bow over.

Her nose wrinkled up cutely at him before she lugged her backpack on, then shouldered the bow. Daryl grasped his pack and heaved a small sigh. His gaze slowly took in the small shelter that they'd rested so comfortably for almost a week and she could see the hint of sadness that they were actually leaving. Admittedly, the girl was a little sad about leaving, too. She could definitely have seen this becoming a sort of home for the two of them... three of them.

Daryl gently clasped her hand and gave it a small tug to lead her toward the stairs where he pushed on the hatch. All was silent on the floor above and Beth quickly followed him up the stairs, hatchet in hand, to look around the quaint living room. A muffled thud behind her caused her to whip around as Daryl covered the trap door. With the thin Asian-style rug over top one would never guess that there was a door beneath. The house was moderately furnished and Beth could easily tell that the owners had taken care of it as well as prided themselves on it. Everything looked as though it had been new and beautiful before the beginning of the end.

"It's pretty here," she commented. Daryl nodded in return as he looked around as well.

"Wasn't much of anything in here when we got here, prob'ly cause they took it all down."

Beth looked at the few pictures around the room of an older man, probably in his 50's, who had probably be quite the looker in his younger days who had a full head of dark hair streaked with gray. The woman on his arm looked to be roughly the same age and about twice his body weight. It didn't matter, though, they looked happy together. She smiled faintly before glancing toward her companion. He nodded toward the door and the two slipped quietly out of the house.

–

Overall their walk was met with mostly silence. Every now and again they'd stumble across a lone walker or find a slightly larger group in the distance. Only twice did the two have to alter their course to avoid a teeming mass of walkers ahead. They had reverted to their old habits of sleeping in abandoned houses, though this time they didn't feel forced to scrounge for food in any of them. They'd packed enough for the trip and as they neared the middle of their second weeks walk something formed in the distance.

"Think that's it?" Daryl's voice interrupted her thoughts. Beth had once more been thinking about how to tell him about the small lump in her gut and the flutters she'd felt as they walked. No matter what scenario she played through her head she couldn't find a good one. Hell, she couldn't even think of a good way to broach the topic.

Her gaze snapped toward his face, then in the direction he was looking. In the distance there was what appeared to be a town, surrounded by something large. "Maybe." The girl responded, watching as it loomed closer.

The closer they walked the more they noticed subtle things, like there were less cars clogging the roads, or trees had been chopped down. What they had seen surrounding the place was a wall that had been constructed out of rocks and bricks and cement blocks, standing close to ten feet high.

When they were only about 20 feet from the wall a voice called out to gain their attention. "Hello!" Beth's gaze jerked upward at the feminine sound, raising a hand to shield her eyes against the sunlight so that she could get a better view of the woman. She stood tall with a mess of red curls that surrounded her pretty, pale face. She was dressed in a pair of skinny jeans with boots that reached her knees–reminding Beth of military garb. A black tank-top shrouded her upper half and a crossbow was clutched in her hand. She pointed a few feet to her right where a slightly rusted silver ladder was half hidden in the shadow of the wall.

Daryl glanced around, wary about both letting her go ahead of him and making sure he went first. If he let her go ahead and these people weren't as good as they were allowing themselves to believe then Beth could be in danger. But if he went first there was always a chance of walkers coming along. He figured it was safe to wage his bets on the latter, if walkers did come along chances were the girl would be right behind him on the ladder and she'd get up relatively quickly enough, if not then she was skilled enough to take it down.. or he could get back down fast to help her.

After heaving the crossbow onto his shoulder the male quickly scaled the ladder, listening to Beth's footfalls behind him. The top of the stone wall was little more than a thin path, the woman stood on a wooden platform that had been constructed beside the wall for their archers to take out any walkers that got too close. Daryl moved just enough for the blonde to have a place to stand, his gaze quickly taking in the small town. The city looked as though it had been four times the size it was now, but much of the larger buildings had been torn down on the other side of the far wall to help in the construction of the one they currently stood on. Spaced out along the inside of the wall he could see various platforms, like the one the red-head stood on.

Beth grasped his hand, pulling him out of his thoughts and toward the woman who was waving them over. "I'm Rosie, welcome to Terminus." The girl said cheerily while holding out a hand. Daryl looked at it awkwardly for a moment, then reached out to quickly shake it.

Beth did the same before pointing between the two of them, "I'm Beth, this is Daryl. This.. this is amazing." She said while looking around again. Below the wall there were people wandering the street at random, she quickly searched for faces she could recognize.

"If you'd like, follow me and I'll get someone to give you a tour, answer any questions you might have and all that." Beth glanced to Daryl, then followed Rosie down the ladder to the town below. When Daryl was at her side the girl reached out for his hand and smiled brightly. He was a little more tentative. New people always had a way of making him clam up, especially in this day and age. One never knew who the real psychos were. "Wait here, I'll find someone for you." The woman seemed almost too happy and it made Daryl just a hint more paranoid.

Maybe it was that the girl was just excited to see someone else alive, maybe it was because she knew they weren't as alone as they seemed, hard to tell really. He followed the girls movements with his eyes as she walked up to a large man. Well, not really large but the guy sort of reminded him of Merle: lanky yet muscular at the same time. He was dressed in a pair of black boots, slightly baggy jeans and a white wife-beater.

Rosie pointed toward the two of them and Daryl instantly felt himself stand a little straighter to look a little more intimidating. The male nodded and followed the red-head back (who Beth realized wasn't much taller than herself) and extended a hand to each of them in turn. "Conrad Riley."

Again, Daryl was a little hesitant but grasped the other man's hand in a firm grip before pulling away. The man had easily returned the firm handshake, then offered a softer one to the little blonde. Beth smiled and once more took care of the introductions. "Beth Greene, Daryl Dixon." The man's brows furrowed lightly for a moment, as if something she'd said caused him to pause, then shook his head.

"Pleasure to have you in Terminus. Alright, how'd you guys like to do this? Questions first, tour next?" Beth and Daryl exchanged glances and he shrugged his right shoulder up lightly to indicate that he didn't care which. The blonde fought the urge to roll her eyes at his sudden silence before looking up to the man. "We got separated from some people a long time back." The guy nodded as if this weren't a new story. "We saw a sign pointing here.. someone from our group had written above it to come here."

"Rhee?"

Beth felt her heart skip a beat as she looked up at Daryl with a bright smile. He returned it, then shifted his attention back to Conrad. "Glenn's here?"

"Wait, who're you lookin' for, girl?" The male asked.

"Maggie Greene, but Glenn's here?!" She asked, nearly bouncing on her toes in glee.

"Glenn's here now." Beth felt her smile falter as she glanced up at Daryl again, "Maggie should be back with her group in about a week's time."

"Can I see him?!" She asked, feeling her cheeks flush.

The guy laughed and nodded, "let's get the tour outta the way first. Any other questions?"

"Yeah, there was a lot of others in our group.."

"Glenn can show you to anyone else you might wanna see from your group." The guy stated before nodding for them to follow him. The way he spoke gave Beth hope that more than Maggie and Glenn had made it here. She couldn't stop herself from squeezing Daryl's hand in excitement before pulling him to follow Conrad. "Biggest rule here is to stay alert. Always. We've got people who come running through town at random to bring messages from various spots on the wall, and if anything bad was to happen, like one of them walls caving in, one of those people would come through telling everyone what to do. We do a practice once a month or so, don't worry, you'll see it soon enough.

Be respectful. Everyone in this town has lost someone they cared about and not everyone is going to want to share their stories. Everyone does their part to chip in around here. You any good with that bow?" The guy asked Daryl who nodded slightly. "Good, you may get some guard duty if you don't mind. What about you, girl?"

"I can shoot alright." Beth stated modestly.

Conrad nodded as if he didn't believe it, then pointed them toward a church. "If either of you are still religious you can pop in there whenever." There were a couple of low houses and apartments, nothing that stood over three stories high. "We've got enough space for more people to come in, but we're running low. We've got some places with six or seven people camped out in them at once. People tend to stick with their families or people they work with."

Beth chewed her lip as she looked around the space, it looked almost nothing like the dream she'd had. "You got a hospital here?" She asked suddenly.

Conrad looked back at her as if she were crazy for a moment before shaking his head. "Nah, wouldn't have the supplies to keep one running. We've got a couple'a people who used to be doctors before all this, they're around here somewhere."

The little blonde released a sigh of relief that no one seemed to hear as she looked around the street, unaware of the look Daryl was giving her as well. "We'll give you a couple of days to settle in, then we'll start looking for work for you." Conrad was saying as Beth turned her attention back onto him. "Are you guys going to have a problem sharing a house with Glenn?" Both shook their heads quickly.

"Alright, well, this is where the Rhee's are camped, he can give you anything else you need." The male said as he pointed at a small one-level house that was only about half a block from the wall.

"Who's runnin' this place?" Daryl asked suddenly.

Conrad turned back and smiled faintly, "myself and a couple of others, actually everyone sort of chips in. Unless it's something that we don't need to incite mass hysteria over, then we typically keep it among the guards," the male once more sized Daryl up, as if trying to pin him for a guard. It wouldn't be the first time he had been one, truthfully. "Alright, I gotta get back in case anyone needs me." The male said with a wave of his hand. He'd made it a couple of feet before turning and walking backwards, indicating their weapons. "Try not to go around so heavily armed, freaks some of the others out."

"Thank you," Beth called to his retreating figure. "Think he was military?" She asked in a quieter tone when she looked up to Daryl.

"Prob'ly. Looks like it." Daryl responded before looking up toward the door.

Beth quickly followed his gaze and sucked in a breath. Could Glenn really be there? Without waiting for a nudge from Daryl she walked quickly up the path and then climbed the set of stairs to the very small porch. Raising a fist, she knocked lightly at the heavy wood door. Moments later she heard the footfalls of someone coming closer.

When the door jerked open it was to reveal a very sleepy-looking Glenn who stared at the two of them in confusion for a moment before his dark eyes widened. "BETH! OH MY GOD!" He called as he jumped onto the porch and swooped the blonde into a hug that lifted her off of the ground. "You're okay, you're alive!" He said when he set her back on the ground. His hands cupped her face, staring as if he couldn't believe it.

Beth felt her eyes sting with tears as she leaned in to hug the older male once more. "I never thought I'd see you again!" She confided. "They said Maggie wasn't here.. where'd she go?"

"She left the day before I got here. Hey Daryl!" He chirped happily.

Daryl smiled and nodded, "hey Glenn."

"When did you get here?" Beth interrupted their greetings, earning a soft chuckle from both men.

"Hey, come in, come in." Glenn said while stepping back into the small house. It was dimly lit, but there was furniture about that they could all sit on. He flopped into a chair, brushing his hands back through his dark hair. "Sorry, you guys woke me up, was up early working on the farm." He stated and yawned. "Umm, I've been here about a week now, I think. Maggie took off with a crew to go look for food and supplies.

We've got a bit here, but it's always good to take a decent group out to other cities and see what we can find. I was going to go on one but I wanted to wait until Maggie got back.. been working the farm for now."

"They said she'll be back in a week."

Glenn nodded and fought off another yawn, "yeah, they wound up making a trip down toward the Florida line, see what they can find. Most places around here've been picked clean over the last 6 months."

"Who else is here?!" She asked now after she and Daryl had placed their bags by the door and settled onto the couch.

"Umm, Sasha, Tyreese and Michonne all went with Maggie's group. Bob showed up here with Maggie and Sasha almost a month after everything with the prison. They've been here since. I guess Tyreese and the girls got here about a week later."

"The girls?"

"Mm, Mika, Lizzy and Judith."

Beth felt a sensation of deja vu sweeping through her and fought off the chill that threatened to run down her spine. So far a lot of things were far too similar to her dream and it was actually starting to worry her. "What about Rick and Carl?"

Glenn frowned now and shook his head. "I guess Michonne met up with them not long after the prison, they'd been wandering around together for a while but got separated about a month before she showed up here. I found my way here after seeing a sign from Maggie."

"That's why we're here." Beth said with a bright smile, the creepy feeling vanishing slightly at the knowledge that Rick and Carl weren't here, though she did hope they were safe.

Glenn laughed gently as he looked at the blonde, "I wish you guys could have seen my face when I got here. I was asking everyone for Maggie Greene, where Maggie Greene was and no one knew who that was. As soon as I told them that my name was Glenn Rhee they just.." he sighed and smiled brightly, "I guess she'd told them her name was Maggie Rhee." He laughed and shook his head in delight and Beth couldn't help but the grin back broadly.

"It's so good to see you, Glenn."

The young male yawned again and shook his head. "Sorry, still kinda tired."

"Well, hey, that guy Conrad said we'd be staying with you and Maggie.. We can go settle in if you want to take a nap, I know I could use one."

"Yeah, if you want, there's two bedrooms toward the back. I'll sack out here until you get up." He stated and leaned back in his chair. At the look the two exchanged he sat up a little higher in his seat. "Seriously?" He asked, looking between them with wide eyes. It wasn't difficult to see the look they'd passed between one another.

**Reviews?**


	20. Choice

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

–

Neither Beth nor Daryl had given Glenn any sort of confirmation to his question. Instead Daryl had stood and moved quietly out of the room after snatching up his bag and Beth reached out to hug Glenn once more. "It's so good to see you." She whispered and pressed a kiss to his cheek while he stared at her expectantly. She planned to tell Glenn at some point, she just had to figure out how to tell him. The girl then stood, grabbed her bag and followed Daryl.

He had gone into the bedroom furthest from where Glenn was resting in the living room, dropped his bag on the floor, then flopped onto the bed and closed his eyes. Beth chuckled and closed the door after she'd entered. Instead of laying down beside him like she would normally have done she sat at the foot of the bed and watched him for a moment. After it was silent for a short time he peered at her through one eye, keeping the other closed. A brow arched in question as she continued to stare at him.

"Think we should have said something?" She asked in a hushed tone. His shoulders rose and fell quickly in answer, bringing a frown to her lips. Beth sighed quietly and glanced out the window. It took a couple of moments before she spoke again, turning her gaze onto his face. "You've been quiet since we got here."

"Ain't much to say, really." He told her. It wasn't really his fault that he was like this, it was just difficult to talk in large groups or around people he didn't really know. He'd been like that for as long as he could remember. Hell, it'd taken quite some time for him to open up to the group after the fall of the world. It'd taken a while for him to open up to Beth after they'd been alone, too.

She frowned a little deeper, glancing around the room. It had a full sized bed and two large windows that over looked a yard and the blonde had to wonder how many others were here, how many others could show up. Her gaze turned back onto the older male who now lay with his hands tucked behind his head and his eyes on her face. "Hmm?" She hummed quietly.

A tiny smirk tugged his lips and he shook his head in response. "Nothin'."

"I think that's a bit of a lie, Daryl Dixon." She countered, fighting the grin that threatened her lips.

He laughed quietly and shook his head again. "Nothin'." He repeated, then reached out his hand for her. The girl gladly scooted closer, interlocking their fingers together. Daryl tugged on her arm until she was laying beside him and easily wrapped his arms around her slender frame.

Beth smiled as she nuzzled into his side, eyes closing comfortably. After a couple minutes of relaxed silence she spoke in a whisper. "What should we tell Glenn and Maggie and.. everybody?" She wondered a loud as her leg draped over his waist.

Daryl shifted slightly to shrug his shoulders up with a mumbled 'iunno'.

"We back to that?" She asked, turning her gaze up toward his face.

The male sighed softly, slowly looking down at her. "I don't know, Beth. What'chu wanna tell 'em?" He asked. There were a thousand things that he could have said but he couldn't figure out what or how to even begin. He'd told her he loved her, that was the best he could do. When it came to telling everyone else, that wasn't something he'd be all that great with. Especially since it was so damned hard to talk to everyone already.

It was now her turn to shrug, one shoulder raising and falling quickly. She fell silent now, looking away from him and curling a little tighter against his side. His fingers combed through the soft hair of her ponytail in silence. Eventually her eyes closed as she just laid there, soaking up his warmth. She felt him shift just enough to kiss the top of her head before hugging her tightly to his side.

"I love you.." she murmured.

"I love you too, Beth." He responded softly.

She fell silent again for a couple of minutes before, "is that what I tell them when they ask?"

"Hmm?" He hummed, half-asleep.

"That you love me?"

"If that's what'chu want, then yeah." He replied, opening one eye to look down at her. Beth nodded as her gaze connected with his own and couldn't stop the little grin that touched her lips when he smiled down at her. She leaned up to press a kiss to his lips, then laid her head on his shoulder. Even though it was the middle of the afternoon, both of them easily fell asleep. The long walk had easily worn the both of the out.

–

The next couple of days were spent learning their way around Terminus and talking to others. Daryl spent a little bit of time with Conrad, talking about the guards who patrolled the walls in search of walkers to take down and making sure that none got too close as well as keeping an eye out for any survivors. Anyone was welcome, anyone at all. That was what Conrad told him. It didn't matter what their past misdeeds were, everyone got a fresh start in Terminus. While Daryl wasn't 100% certain he agreed with it, it was probably the best use of his skills here. The idea that there could be a serial killer or rapist running through the streets made him a little uneasy, to be honest, but he wasn't in charge here.

Beth, on the other hand, had begun shadowing a doctor. Her father had already taught her plenty already so the girl figured that it would be the best use of what little skill she did have. Sure, there was still a lot that she needed to learn but Beth figured that doctors didn't last forever and eventually they would need someone who knew what they were doing. Which meant that they could train her.

She met a woman in her mid 30's named Samantha Deacon or 'Sammi' as she preferred to be called. She was pretty with thick black hair, tanned skin and dark eyes. The woman was tall, probably close to six foot and had a sturdy build. "How is it you're still here and not out with the groups who go looking for supplies?" Beth found herself asking the woman on the second day.

"I've gone out a couple of times," Sammi replied with a laugh, her voice had a naturally husky tone that Beth sort of envied. Actually, the woman was very enviable. Nearly every man that they walked passed in the camp watched the doctor walk by and Beth had to marvel at how the woman barely seemed to notice. "I just don't really like going out there. Not when there's people here who need me, you know? Bob goes out sometimes, you met him right?"

"Mm, he was at the prison with my group." Beth responded.

"He tends to stick close to Sasha, though. Listens to damn near anything that girl says too." Sammi laughed quietly. "Normally Cole is the one to go out with the groups. He was a medic in the Marines, so he's used to a bit more combative kind of treatment. Usually they don't need a doc with them but it's always good to have one anyway." The woman told her. Beth could easily understand why, too. It wasn't difficult to get hurt out there, besides if they went to a pharmacy or hospital it would be easier for a professional to tell them exactly what they needed.

Beth nodded and smiled faintly, fighting the nausea that had slowly been coming back since last night. While she was certain she knew what was causing it, she didn't want to address it yet. She was worried that Daryl would freak out again, she was worried about what the nausea could mean, at the same time she was also terrified of saying anything to anyone because she was worried it would get back to Daryl before she was ready to tell him about it.

"So, Maggie's your sister?" Sammi asked with a smile, drawing Beth from her thoughts.

Her brows rose slightly as a smile pulled on her lips. "You've met her?"

"She's become a little famous around here, actually."

This being the first Beth had heard of this, confusion etched itself onto her features. "How?"

"Well, from the time she got here she was completely convinced her husband was alive. Every chance she got she was going on runs and every opportunity she could she was writing on walls to Glenn. If she was needed to stay here for a run, she'd beg someone else to put up signs for Glenn. Even when Conrad told her that it was unlikely he was still alive. Your sister's a stubborn one." The elder woman stated with a laugh on her lips. "And then he comes shambling in and.. God I kinda hope I'm there when your sister gets back."

Beth felt a smile pull on her lips as she nodded quickly, "I hope so too. She's going to be thrilled. Glenn too. I can't imagine how the both of them have felt, they've been away from each other so long.." Only now did she realize it had been close to a year that her sister had been searching for Glenn and not her. While a small part of her couldn't help but be irritated and hurt, she understood completely. If she'd felt the same for Daryl before the prison fell and they'd been separated she would have done the same. Her pale eyes danced over the land as a few people worked on the farm, working to grow whatever fruits and vegetables that they possibly could.

She'd contemplated working in the fields as well but she'd never been much of a green thumb, despite her name. The thought of the food in the fields made her stomach churn again. Beth fought against the nausea for several moments. When a cold sweat broke over her pale face and the road began to spin around her Beth quickly pulled away from the older woman and clutched at the light pole she nearly stumbled into as her stomach heaved.

"Beth?" She heard Sammi's concerned voice before feeling a gentle touch to her shoulder. "You alright, kid?" The elder woman asked while pushing at the strands of blonde hair that had escaped Beth's ponytail to keep them out of her face as the girl heaved again.

After she wiped at her mouth the girl nodded quickly. "The heat's getting to me." She lied.

The Hispanic woman stared back, obviously not believing the lie. It was certainly warm but not hot enough to cause anyone sickness. "How long have you been sick?"

Beth frowned a little in thought, glancing down the street to be sure she was out of earshot of others. She spotted Glenn down the street, heading their way to work the afternoon on the farm. Along the wall a little further beyond the young Asian male she spotted Daryl walking behind Conrad, easily told by the crossbow he carried.

Her gaze shifted back to Sammi. "Three weeks, maybe a little longer."

The doctor nodded softly while taking mental notes, "nausea come and go?"

"For the most part."

"Dizzy spells, fever, hives, fainting, joint tenderness?" The woman easily rattled it all off, taking notes in her head while she tried to decipher what was wrong with the girl. Sammi missed, more than anything, labs and xrays and a real hospital feel. While she was a doctor, she'd never been trained for this kind of world before it happened. Diagnosing people was a little more difficult without all of the equipment she'd been trained on.

"No fever or hives.. I passed out about three weeks before we came here, I guess I slept for about three days."

The woman frowned in thought, "any other fainting spells?" When Beth shook her head rapidly the woman continued. "Headaches?" The good doctor fired several questions more at the blonde before, "do you track your cycles?"

Beth chuckled and shrugged. "I did for a while."

"When was your last?"

"I can't remember. Couple months back.. maybe?" Beth confided, wincing as she looked up at the pretty woman.

Sammi merely smiled softly in return. "Sexually active?"

"Not until semi-recently.." the girl replied while chewing lightly on her lower lip. She glanced toward Glenn, who offered a quick smile and wave as he made his way toward the farm, then up toward where she'd seen Daryl before. The male was standing beside Conrad, staring in her direction, at least it seemed that way. The sun made it difficult to tell much behind his silhouette.

The elder woman wrapped an arm around her shoulder and lead her away from the street and the people who'd started walking passed on their way to and from work. "Think you could be pregnant?" Beth made a little face as she glanced away from the woman, her hand gently touching her stomach and pressing slightly against the small bump. Sammi once more smiled in response and walked the girl toward the office that the doctors had claimed as their home. It was full of the medical supplies and medications that they had found throughout their searches.

"What are we doing here?" She asked, looking around at the shelves loaded with various bottles and crates loaded with different things.

"Well, at some point you'll have to learn about all of this but for now.." her voice trailed off as she searched the shelves for something. "I know we've got some around here.." she muttered to herself.

Beth figured now wasn't the time to speak so instead she leaned back against one of the cots and waited. After close to two minutes the woman exclaimed "Aha!" and stepped back with a thin tube wrapped in white foil that Beth looked at with an arch forming in her brow.

The blonde stared at it for a moment before looking to the elder female who held it out to her. "Best way to find out for sure." Sammi told her. Hesitantly, Beth reached out for the thin package and scolded her shaking fingers. "Bathroom's through there." She looked in the direction the doctor pointed and swallowed hard before nodding and pushing herself to stand.

It took her nearly ten minutes of pacing the bathroom to convince herself to actually take the pregnancy test amidst the constant worry that the test wouldn't even work due to it's age. Of course, that was relatively illogical, right? After stepping out of the bathroom she laid the test face up on the counter and stared down at it, waiting for it to work whatever wonder it was supposed to.

Her mind ran rampant with various scenarios, the greater of which was that she wasn't pregnant at all but sick. Truly and deathly sick with something else. The thought made her heart hammer madly in her chest as she leaned against the counter and stared down at the test, waiting for it to.. do whatever it was supposed to do.

Sammi lingered back a little out of the way, making sure she was giving the girl the appropriate space as she anxiously awaited the results. If anything this would be the simplest diagnosis the doctor had made in months. While that was a slight cause for personal celebration, she wasn't sure just how the young blonde was going to feel about the potential outcome of the test, though could easily see that Beth was terrified. She couldn't say that she blamed her either. This wasn't an ideal world.

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	21. Secrets

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

–

While Beth was off following a doctor around, Daryl was spending time with Conrad. It seemed as though the woman Beth was shadowing was the head of the doctors here, Conrad was like the Captain of the guard, a thin woman named Jillian was in charge of the farms, a brute of a guy named Darius was in charge of the small pool of mechanics and a slightly nerdy little guy by the name of Allen was in charge of the water and power supplies.

Conrad told him that he'd been a Captain in the Army, then asked if he'd ever served. Daryl simply shook his head in response. "You ain't much of a talker, are you?" The male asked in a deep voice. Again, Daryl shook his head. "Well, look. If you're gonna be working with us you'll have to talk every now and again. I mean, we'll need to know what's going on out there."

"I talk when there's somethin' to say." Daryl stated, holding the crossbow to his side as they walked along the wall.

"Man of little words. My kind of guy!" Rosie stated from behind him with a wink and a flirty little smirk.

"Get-"

"-Your ass back to work," the girl finished Conrad's sentence with a grin. "Yessir." She gave a mock salute before turning and making her way to the little platform that had been built. Looking around, Daryl noticed that every twenty feet or so was another one of these podiums, each with a person sitting or standing on duty, watching the horizon. From what he could see, each was armed with a standard bow or a crossbow.

"Swear, if that girl wasn't a killer shot she'd be working somewhere else." Conrad muttered in slight irritation.

"How killer of a shot?" Daryl asked with a glance back toward the red-head.

Conrad looked back at the girl for a moment and shook his head. "I'd keep your hands clear of that pool, it's been swam through too many times, friend." The male said in warning.

"Wasn't interested in that." Daryl stated bluntly. Sure, the girl was pretty enough, confident and looked like she knew how to have a bit of fun but he wasn't looking for that kind of fun.

The Captain stared at him for a moment before nodding softly and glancing toward the red-head. "She can hit a walker from about a hundred yards out with that crossbow of hers. If she had a rifle she'd hit one a lot further. Since we can't risk the shot, or find the ammo easy enough.." he trailed off as Daryl nodded in understanding. "She was a sniper in the Marines." Conrad told him, glancing toward the girl.

Daryl chanced a glance back as well and honestly couldn't see it. Sure, she was small enough to be able to hide out well in enemy territory but that flaming red hair had to have given her away more than once. Besides that, she just seemed too damned bubbly. People that happy couldn't have been in the military long.

He easily remembered his Uncle Kenny who had served in 'the Great War' as he'd called it. The guy had been pretty much unhinged since. Instead of putting too much more thought into it, Daryl shifted his attention back toward Conrad, watching as the blonde male brushed a hand back through his hair, then wiped the sweat from his brow.

"You may want to tone down on the gear a bit, too. It gets pretty warm up here, especially when you're sitting here for four or five hours in the direct sun. Find a pair of shorts or something." The guy suggested.

Daryl nodded in response, though had absolutely not intention of finding a pair of shorts. He hadn't worn shorts since he was 10 years old had hit a growth spurt in the middle of summer and had had to cut off several pairs of his jeans just so he had something to wear. Never again. He looked out toward the field surrounding their one side. "Who's idea was it to start this place?" He asked.

"Me and a couple of the others met up not long after everything went to hell, we bounced around from place to place and got tired of it. I mean, there was constantly someone at our door wanting to take what we had, or worse. We decided we needed to do something for everyone. Keep the biters out and get humanity going again." He told Daryl while turning his back on the open field to look at the small town. "We met up with more and more people the longer we walked and we all started to form this idea of a better community. A place where we could be safe and at least live sort of comfortably. No, it wouldn't be like it used to be but we could at least try."

Daryl followed the male's gaze toward the garden, crops sprouting here and there, windmill and solar panels that were scattered around. There were large tanks stationed everywhere to catch the rainwater that fell so that everyone could have fresh water for drinking. People wandered about the street, either talking with friends or going about their work. It seemed as though most people worked on guard duty or on the farm and it only made sense as those were the things they needed the most.

"We'd found some cattle a couple weeks back that we wanted to try and bring here. We don't get much fresh meat around here." Conrad confided as he watched the people as well.

Daryl instantly thought of the pigs at the prison. The thought was good but there was so much chance of them getting sick and then getting everyone else sick too. It wasn't an appealing notion. "I could set some traps for rabbits or somethin'.. keep an eye out for deer?"

"We don't get many deer around here, Rosie keeps looking, too. Couple others keep an eye out but there's not much other than on a rare occasion some geese or ducks flying overhead. We'd probably actually have to go out hunting to try and find anything bigger."

"What 'bout huntin' parties?" He asked now.

"Can't really spare the men for it. Besides, we'd need cars to bring back the hauls in and we can't spare the fuel. What little fuel we do manage to find is taken for the crews that go out looking for supplies." Daryl frowned in response and nodded. He was running low on other ideas. "You could still set some traps but we'd have to check them often, wouldn't want the biters to come across them, it'd just draw them in."

"Could prob'ly get on it over the next couple'a days." The redneck said as he looked over the village again.

He spotted Glenn walking down the street toward the farm and a little way up a familiar blonde figure clutching a pole and bent over. His brows furrowed darkly while raising his free hand to shield his eyes against the sun as he watched her stand when the doctor stepped behind her. _I thought she was better.._ he wondered while watching the two talk. He couldn't make out either ones facial expressions but he saw Beth's body language, even from a distance.

Her arms had crossed over her chest as she tried to protect herself from whatever they were talking about. Moments later the doctor steered Beth away from the street and within seconds they had vanished from his sight. A frown etched itself onto his lips as he wondered what was going on before a voice drew him from his thoughts. "So, blondie.. what's her deal?"

A quick glance toward the male told Daryl that he'd been staring in the same direction. "What'cha mean?"

"You two showed up here together..?"

"And?" Daryl asked, turning to face the blonde full on.

"Not everyone who shows up here with someone is with that someone." He hinted. Daryl glanced back toward the place Beth had stood for a moment, then Conrad spoke again, "what I'm asking is-"

"I know what you're askin'," Daryl interrupted, quickly turning his gaze back toward the larger male, "she's with me." He stated protectively. A year ago when Beth was fawning over that boy at the prison he hadn't put a single thought into it, he didn't notice, he didn't care. But now? While he knew that it was wrong to lay a claim to people, he'd staked his and now was the time to make it known. Beth was his, just like he was hers. There was no reason to dance around the subject.

Conrad raised his hands in defense. "Alright, was just wondering, especially since the girl's what.. half your age?"

Daryl felt his lip curl up slightly in annoyance. "So?"

"Nothin', nothin'. Alright, so," the male was obviously keen to change the subject now, "you and blondie alright rooming with Glenn and Maggie when she gets back?"

Taking the opportunity to change the subject he nodded in response. "Don't see why it'd be a problem." He stated while the two walked a little further along the wall.

All in all Daryl had thought that the construction of the wall looked pretty shitty, it looked as though it could collapse in a strong wind but watching as people walked back and forth along it–some of them larger than himself–he had a feeling it would hold it's own, no matter how it looked.

"So, everyone here's got enough food?" He asked now, glancing briefly toward the farms.

Conrad nodded, a pleased smile pulling on his lips. "We do, actually. I mean, it's not an overabundance but we've got enough to keep everyone happily fed."

The redneck nodded slightly in response. Twice he'd nearly told Conrad about the safe house that he and Beth had spent time in but for some reason each time it was on the tip of his tongue he held himself back. It wasn't that Conrad didn't seem trustworthy because he did, there was just something about the guy that rubbed him the wrong way. Perhaps it was because he was a little paranoid.

"Hey, you ever heard the names Chris and Jeff?" He asked, remembering the guys that had attacked he and Beth several months ago. With as much as they had wandered around since then it was highly probable that Terminus was the place those men had been talking about. While Daryl didn't want to believe it, he couldn't rule out the possibility.

The blonde's brows furrowed in thought, "pretty common names. Got a last name to go with it?" Daryl shook his head lightly, frowning. "Description, maybe?"

"Other'n the fact that they was both big sum'bitches, no."

Conrad shrugged up his shoulders quickly, "had a guy named Chris here until about a month ago. He went out on a supply run with Sasha, Rosie and a couple others, never came back." Daryl nodded now, feeling a little less paranoid but for some reason he couldn't quite shake it completely. "They someone else from your group?"

"Nah, we run into 'em a couple months back, them an' a couple'a other big guys."

Conrad watched him for a moment, then nodded as if he understood. "Alright, well it's getting late and there ain't much more you can do around here tonight. I'll set you up for a watch tomorrow afternoon." The male reached out to gently pat Daryl's shoulder before turning and walking toward the podium to the right, where a thin black male sat, bow draped around his shoulder as he watched the field.

Out of almost instinct he reached up and brushed his hand across the skin on his shoulder where the other male had touched, as if to wipe away the contact. His gaze shifted toward where he'd seen Beth last, then spotted Glenn over in the field working.

He'd seen Judith and the girls this morning and they seemed happy enough. They were staying in what was once a gym with cots and a few cribs for the younger ones. Altogether there were close to twenty kids in there and Daryl had been shocked as hell to know that that many children had survived, many of the beds that had been set up for the kids were still vacant. Of course, Judith was the youngest in the group and while he wished that there were more he could do for the little girl he just wasn't _that _great with babies. Sure, he could hold them a bit but once they started crying he was all too happy to pass them off to someone else.

His greatest hope was that Rick and Carl, or at least one of them, would show up at some point. The kids were all well taken care of, though. Most of them even seemed happy enough. A set of three women took care of them in alternating shifts, they took on the responsibility of feeding and changing and teaching them. While Mika had been excited to show him that Judith was making an attempt at crawling, Lizzie remained distant. He'd smiled a little and nodded toward her and he could see the forced smile on the girls lips before she went back to the book that was open in her lap.

Something seemed off about the girl, though Daryl was just assuming it was because she was still attempting to acclimate herself to everything here. It sure was different here than it was on the other side of the wall. Thing was, he wasn't completely sure if it was a better different.

As part of joining the 'elite' guard, Daryl had been shown all over the town that morning. He'd seen the doctor's quarters, he'd seen the farms, he'd seen the kids, he'd gotten a view of the 'armory' which was little more than an oversized closet filled with various weapons and ammo that had been accumulated over time. The armory was only for use of the guard and those making supply runs. The final stop on his tour had been the wall.

All along the way he'd met with various people, half of whom he'd already forgotten the names of, and nearly every person had done the same thing by welcoming him cheerily. It was slightly unnerving.

Now that his tour was over and Conrad had gone back to his work he intended to go back to the doctors quarters and find Beth. It took him nearly twenty minutes after climbing back down the wall (amidst a brief encounter with Rosie that had left him shaking his head lightly) he was still having trouble remembering just how to get to the little doctors quarters.

"Hey!" Glenn's voice interrupted his thoughts as he glanced around, attempting to regain his bearings. While the town wasn't huge, he'd been hit with a lot to remember in one day and could pinpoint several locations, just not the one he wanted.

"Hey," he grunted in response, looking around a moment before back to the kid. "You seen Beth?"

"Yeah, she was here almost an hour ago with Sammi. Probably went back to the office." Glenn stated before catching the semi-lost expression on the older males face and chuckling. "Come on. I'll show you." He waved a hand and turned down a dirty alley. Glenn shoved his hands down into the pockets of his jeans and was silent for a short time before his curiosity got the better of him. "So what's going on with you and Beth?"

Daryl glanced to the male and fought the flush that threatened his cheeks and in the dimming light he was hoping it wouldn't be noticeable. For some reason he thought this was something Beth should be telling the guy. Instead of a verbal response he shrugged quickly.

"Come on, Daryl. The way you guys look at each other? And it doesn't take an idiot to see you're worried about her right now. Why?"

Daryl frowned uncomfortably before deciding the best course of action was to explain what he could. "Couple weeks back she was pretty sick. Pukin' all the time, even passed out on me. Had to carry her to an old house and she slept for almost three days." He explained and raised a hand to brush it back through his dark hair. When Glenn's brow merely arched in response he frowned again, "up on the wall I saw her pukin' again while she was with the doc.. jus' need to make sure she's okay."

Glenn's curiosity was quickly replaced with concern. It wasn't just the fact that it was Maggie's little sister but in a way she'd become his sister too. He had to be worried. Instead of pressing the issue any further he picked up the pace and led the brunette out of the alley and across the street. Pushing the door open, they spotted Sammi in her cot with a book in hand.

"Something the matter, boys?" She asked, quickly closing it and pushing herself to her feet.

"Nah, not really. Beth still with you?" Daryl asked, glancing around the small shop as if the little blonde would pop up from somewhere.

Sammi quickly shook her head. "She went home."

After a brief look toward Glenn, Daryl stepped closer to the woman so he didn't need to talk as loudly, "she okay?" He asked, trying to keep most of the worry out of his voice.

"She's fine." She stated diplomatically.

"I saw her throwin' up earlier." He countered, watching the woman's body language.

She was obviously skilled in keeping her tells hidden, though as she merely shook her head. "You'll have to talk to her about it. Unless it's a matter of public health I don't go spilling things about people to anyone who asks." The doctor stated politely, yet bluntly all at once.

Daryl frowned, feeling aggravated. He didn't ask the woman for anything further as he doubted she'd tell him anything anyway. With a quick nod to Glenn the two left. Both jogged the three blocks back to the house. "So what else was happening with her? Just sick?" Glenn asked, naturally asking about the times she'd been sick before coming here.

"Slept a lot, puked all the time, pretty much it."

"You two..." he trailed off, hoping the brunette would understand.

"What?" Obviously not.

He didn't get the chance to finish asking his question as the two came to a stop on the sidewalk in front of their house. Beth was settled onto the steps, staring up at the sky as if searching for something there, having heard their footfalls, though, the blonde turned toward them and smiled lightly.

"Hey, you okay?" Glenn asked first as he walked up the path.

Beth nodded in return and smiled, "mm, was just thinkin' about my dad. I think he would have liked it here."

"I think so too." Her brother-in-law looked over the girl, still obviously worried.

"Maggie should be back day after tomorrow, right?" She asked and watched the grin spread across Glenn's lips in response. He'd obviously been keeping track of the days. The girl was proud that she'd been able to distract him. After all, this was a conversation she needed to have with Daryl, she just wasn't sure how to do it. "I can't wait to see her." Beth commented before slowly turning her gaze onto Daryl's. He stood back a couple of paces, watching her warily.

Her brother-in-law patted her gently on the shoulder and moments later she heard the door open as he went inside to find something to eat. The redneck stepped closer, sitting down beside her when he was near enough. "You feelin' alright?"

Beth nodded and forced a smile. "I feel fine."

Knowing that she'd been puking her guts up little more than an hour ago caused his frown to deepen. This wasn't the first time she'd been sick and felt better not long after. Daryl was going to get to the bottom of it this time. She'd been with the doctor, there was no way she hadn't asked advice. "Better'n earlier?" He asked now.

"You saw that, huh?" She didn't look at him but instead kept her eyes on the stars as they showed through the purple-black veil in the sky.

"What's goin' on wit'chu?" His gaze searched her face, trying to hide the worry that had taken hold of him.

"Nothing." She stated a little too quickly for his liking and shook her head.

"Bullshit."

Her eyes rolled up in the way that told him he was getting on her nerves. It wasn't often that he did but Daryl always knew when he was pushing the buttons that would cause the blonde to snap at him. Why did he keep pushing? Because he wanted answers. Real ones. Beth didn't seem to realize just how terrified he was of something happening to her. He needed to know what was happening with her. "There's nothing going on, Daryl, just a stomach bug or something." She replied with a sigh.

"Right. An' that's why you been sick for a month?" He felt himself snap. Beth shifted uncomfortably beside him and looked away. Her silence was enough of an answer that something was going on. "You dying?" He asked, just prodding for answers.

"No."

He watched the little muscle in her jaw work in irritation. "What'chu got, some kinda tape worm or somethin'?"

"No." Her answer held a hint of a sigh as her teeth ground together.

"You pregnant or somethin'?" He asked now.

There was a subtle change in the girls position, but it was one he caught relatively easily. Her fingers clenched tightly and her body stiffened up, he saw the vein in her throat hammer just a little faster than it had only a few moments ago as her ears quickly turned red.

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	22. Family Matters

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I've added a bit of a recap from last chapter, just because I feel the need!**

–

"You pregnant or somethin'?" He asked now.

There was a subtle change in the girls position, but it was one he caught relatively easily. Her fingers clenched tightly and her body stiffened up, he saw the vein in her throat hammer just a little faster than it had only a few moments ago as her ears quickly turned red.

"Beth?" His voice had dropped lower, eyes locked on what little of her face that he could see as she continued to look away from him. Daryl felt a panic begin to well in him as he waited for her to say something, to do something.. anything. Her silence was nearly enough of an answer but he needed to hear it. After all, her silence could just be because she was pissed at him. That seemed all too likely.

It felt like hours that he sat there staring at her but only a couple of seconds had passed before the girls pale blue orbs turned back to him. She said nothing, merely stared back into his panicked eyes for a moment or two. He watched the lump in her throat as she swallowed hard, her lips parted for speech but no sound came out. She sighed quietly, then reached into her back pocket and pulled out a thin white.. something.

He'd only ever seen one in his entire life, and that had been when he was sixteen and Merle's girl at the time thought she might be. Thankfully she hadn't been, Merle had in no right been ready for that responsibility. Daryl didn't know why he was thinking of his brother at a time like this, perhaps it was just because his brain was heading toward overload that it needed some sort of distraction.

Beth tapped it lightly against her palm, staring down at the little blue plus sign before she finally turned it and held it up so that he could see. The whole time her thin hand shook in worry. Daryl stared at it for several long seconds, waiting for it to actually process. Sure, he understood exactly what that little sign meant and while his brain was slowly getting there, it just didn't seem to be moving fast enough. Almost everything felt like it was running in slow motion now. Finally, after a minute of holding it up to show him Beth shoved it back into her pocket and looked away from his shocked face.

A part of him wanted to ask how, but well.. that would have been the stupidest question he ever could have asked. He clearly knew how it had happened, the images quickly flooded through his mind of the few times they'd been together. Easily remembering how each were the happiest he'd felt in.. longer than he could remember. He couldn't ask if she was sure, it was right there on the test and the way she'd felt lately made it even more real. The more thought he put into it, the more he realized he should have seen it sooner. He definitely couldn't ask if it was his because they had been completely alone together for almost a year.

A heavy breath finally escaped his lungs as the reality of everything came crashing down on him. "Aw, shit.." he breathed, dropping his head into his hands.

The girl beside him didn't move or speak, she simply sat there, staring off into space with her elbows on her knees and her hands clasped together. He tried, several times at that, to say something to her but for the life of him couldn't get his voice to cooperate.

The two stayed this way until after the sun had sank below the wall, bathing them in darkness save for the light shining from the kitchen of the little house. It was only when Glenn cleared his throat behind them that either moved. "I, um, I made something to eat.." he murmured, noting the tension in the air. Without another word he pushed away from the doorway and headed back to the kitchen.

Beth shifted beside him, pushing herself stiffly to her feet. Her thin fingers brushed back through his hair before she leaned down to press a kiss to the top of his head. He listened to her footsteps as she walked into the house to get a plate of.. whatever Glenn had cooked.

Alone now, Daryl allowed the panic to crash down in waves on him. It was different with Judith. It was different holding her and smiling at her and everything, he could give her back. She wasn't _his_ responsibility to protect. He didn't _have_ to do anything for her. It had been different when it was Lori that had been pregnant. He didn't have to protect her, he didn't have to rub her feet or fetch her something to eat. He didn't have to be terrified of what giving birth could do.

If this had happened and the world was like it had been three years ago, then maybe he wouldn't be so terrified right now. There had been hospitals and doctors and nurses to help. If something went wrong there had been someone there who could make it right. Not now. While Daryl hadn't seen it happen it wasn't difficult to picture Lori's complicated birth, Maggie having to rip Judith from her stomach while she bled out everywhere. He didn't have to fight to picture the woman dying and Carl having to fire that shot because he knew she would turn soon enough.

To be honest, the thought of Beth being Lori scared him beyond belief. Before he'd fallen for the little blonde he never, never would have worried about something like this. Now? Now he had to worry about keeping himself safe, keeping Beth alright and..

Thoughts of everything that could go wrong poured into his head in droves. It was near crippling. Of course, he knew that there was nothing that could be done about it. Not really, she was pregnant, it was his and they would have to see this thing through. The question was, how. How was he, Daryl Dixon, going to handle not only being a father but the worry of everything that could happen.

Once more Glenn's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Hey."

Trying to return his breathing to normal, Daryl merely grunted a response without turning to look at him. Obviously the younger male didn't mind so much as he sat down beside him on the steps, taking the place Beth had what seemed only a few minutes before. Glenn's dark eyes danced around for a couple of seconds before turning to land on the redneck. "Beth went to bed about an hour ago." He murmured. Instantly Daryl's gaze snapped up in confusion. An hour? How the hell long had he been out here?! "You've been sitting out here close to three.." the male answered the unasked question.

Daryl felt a low sigh fall from his lips as he rubbed at his face. That meant it was getting close to midnight. "She's pregnant.." he felt the words leave him without truly wanting to say them. Glenn was the kind of person he knew he could talk to, it was just difficult to get the words out sometimes. While he believed that she was, there was some sense of it all being surreal; like he was an observer, watching it happen to someone else.

The younger male nodded softly, "I heard." He responded and allowed his gaze to dance over the few people still wandering about the dark streets. Most carried lanterns or candles to light their way, leaving the impression of little glowing orbs bouncing around in the distance. "She's scared." Glenn told him.

Daryl's brows furrowed, shifting his attention toward the other male. "She's got every right to be." He stated, once more thinking about Lori and fighting against the constriction forming in his chest. "So much shit can go wrong."

Glenn quickly shook his head, a sad smile touching his lips. "She's not worried about that.." he murmured while staring at the older male as if to emphasize his point. When Daryl didn't seem to catch on he continued, "she's worried about you."

"Why?"

"Why?" Glenn's brows arched in shock as he stared at the older male. A humorless laugh fell from his lips as he shook his head. "Come on, really? Because she's afraid you're going to freak out and do something stupid, or pull away."

"Ain't no reason for her to think that." Daryl stated defensively.

"No? Daryl, it's not uncommon knowledge to anyone who's spent as much time around you as we have.. you tend to shut off a little bit when things get too emotional." Daryl frowned, remembering Beth screaming at him about not letting people get too close. Had that really been ten months ago? Didn't really feel like it. Glenn reached out and patted the older man on the shoulder. "Talk to her, she's scared." He said before climbing to his feet and walking away to leave Daryl once more sitting outside alone.

The brunette sighed while combing his fingers back through his dark hair. After only a couple minutes longer he shoved off the steps and stretched to work out the kinks that had formed from sitting in the same place for so long. With the feeling back in his feet he walked into the house and to he and Beth's room.

The blonde looked to be asleep when he peered around the door into the darkness. As quietly as he could Daryl removed his boots and climbed into the bed behind her. Hesitantly, his hand brushed her hip before wrapping around her slender waist in order to pull them closer together. He leaned over and pressed a kiss against her shoulder, the action caused her to stir slightly. He had assumed she'd been asleep, at least until she rolled over. Her eyes were wide with worry, the bags beneath showed exhaustion. Even in the dim lighting from the window he could see that they were bloodshot from crying.

His hand found her cheek in the dark, thumb brushing away the tear streak left there. "I.. I don't know what I'm s'posed to do here." He confided.

Her shoulder shrug quickly while shaking her head. "Me either." She responded, her voice cracked with emotion.

Daryl had never heard her sound so small, it broke his heart a bit. "I'm sorry.."

"For what?" She asked in a whisper, brows furrowing.

"The way I acted.."

The girl actually laughed quietly and shook her head. "I didn't expect you to jump for joy, Daryl. I sure didn't. Your reaction was pretty much what I expected, actually." Her hand reached up, carefully knocking a few strands of his dark hair away from his face with a tender sort of smile. She sniffled before pulling herself a little closer, lowering her hand to rest on his chest.

"What was you cryin' for?" He asked in a whisper while wiping at her cheek again.

Beth shrugged again, fighting another laugh. "Just.. everything. I got in here and just couldn't get my brain to stop, you know. I thought about what Dad would say, what Maggie's gonna say. I thought about how Dad won't be here to see his first grand kid.." her voice went a little higher at the end as the tears formed rapidly in her eyes.

Without hesitation his arms wrapped tightly around her and pulled her slender frame close to comfort her. Daryl had thought about Hershel, too, while he'd been sitting on the porch. He'd wondered how the old guy would have reacted to all of this. Hell, Hershel probably would have whooped his ass, one leg or not. "Look, I may not know what we gotta do now or what's ahead, but everythin's gonna be okay." He stated while brushing a hand back through her hair.

Beth nodded and quickly wiped at her face to try and get herself under control. While she didn't completely believe him that everything would be fine, she was just glad to know he was saying it. They didn't know what was going to happen next, they didn't know anything, but they just had to believe it would be alright. The blonde pushed herself closer and pressed her lips against his in a soft kiss that he easily returned.

He knew that he was still very much freaking out about the whole prospect of her being pregnant but he also knew that it was too late to change it. While the idea of what was to come scared the hell out of him, Daryl knew that he had to be strong for her. She was going to be the one changing, she was going to be the one at risk. Until everything happened he was going to be nothing more than a bystander. At least that was the way he was thinking it would be. Other than Lori, he'd never been around a pregnant woman.

"We should get some sleep." She told him, gently caressing his cheek. When he nodded in response the little blonde curled closely to his side. It didn't take long before he felt the girl fall asleep in his arms. Between her own worry and being sick and crying, it was easy for her to drift off. As exhausted as he was Daryl knew he wouldn't be able to sleep until she did and even then it would take some time for him to be able to fall asleep. The worry was invading his mind and taking over his body as he clutched her tightly to his side. Hearing her soft snores beside him, Daryl listened to the sound for what felt like hours before he finally drifted off.

–

The next day was easier or, at least, his brain wasn't kicked as far into overdrive. He knew he'd had a nightmare but as the day wore on he couldn't remember what the hell it was about. The harder he tried the more it seemed to evade him. Daryl wasn't completely sure he wanted to know, either. Beth had slept peacefully, the anxiety and tears had worn her out completely and she hadn't woken until Daryl shook her shoulder softly. The girl pouted about having to wake up but then a thought hit her and she sat up quick enough that she narrowly missed bashing him in the nose with her head. "Maggie's supposed to be back today!" She exclaimed.

Maggie was supposed to be back today, that was the big thing in town. Maggie and her crew would return. At first Daryl had been completely confused as to why more than half of Terminus was in an uproar over it but Rosie laughed as she bounced up beside him. "Maggie sort of made everyone here love her. We're all kinda waiting for her to see Glenn." She explained cheerily.

Glenn had gone to keep himself busy working in the fields for the morning, Beth had already gone to follow Sammi around which left Daryl with nothing to do but find Conrad. Unfortunately Rosie found him first. He wasn't sure why but the little red-head irritated him. Probably just her overly chipper attitude. He'd nodded as she spoke, then wiped the sweat from his brow. It wasn't even noon yet and it was hot as hell. Welcome to Georgia. "When're they s'posed to be back?" He asked the girl as they walked to the wall.

"Depends on if they hit any kind of trouble. We don't really know. Could be today, could be tomorrow, we don't really know." She trailed off a little. Of course, there was always the chance that the group wouldn't come back at all, everyone was sincerely hoping that that wasn't the case here.

The rest of the morning passed without incident, well unless you counted the various people who would pop up at the wall at random to ask the guards if they saw anything yet. Conrad and Daryl stood along the wall, watching for walkers and just waiting.

"This pretty much it?" He asked the ex-marine.

"What? Standin' around and waiting? Yeah. Normally we take a couple hours up here, change places every now and again so everyone isn't watching the same spot of land all day. You start watching the same place and you get bored. You get bored and you slip up. You slip up and it could be someone's death." The male stated and frowned. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

A near silent laugh fell from Daryl's lips as he shook his head. "I been used to it. The prison we was at had guard towers all around, before everythin' happened we all took shifts up there, keepin' watch." He explained.

They fell into a semi-comfortable silence as they watched the land. It was close to five, the sun slowly making it's descent toward the West when they heard it. Conrad's gaze snapped toward their right at the sound of a high whistle. Daryl's attention easily followed toward the guard at his podium. The burly male was standing with his hands in his mouth–the cause of the sound. Instantly Daryl thought a group of walkers was getting close and followed behind Conrad as the male ran along the wall, both clutching their crossbows to their sides.

Daryl nearly skidded off the top of the wall as he came to a sudden stop behind the men. The whistler (Gordon, if he remembered correctly) was pointing down the road where two vehicles were closing in fast. "Looks like they're back." Conrad muttered with a smile.

Gordon turned to look down at the people who had come close at the sound, Rosie was among them. The red-head bounced on her toes in anticipation and when the male nodded at her she beamed before dropping her bow and running toward the fields.

Daryl nearly fell again when a hand clapped him on the back, "get down there or you'll ruin the surprise." Conrad ordered with a quick grin.

The redneck took one more look at the approaching vehicles before shouldering his weapon and climbing quickly down the ladder. Beth and Sammi had come into view by the time he made his way through the gathering crowd.

Beth looked apprehensive, almost as if she were afraid to get her hopes up. "Is it them?" The doctor asked. When Daryl nodded he watched the slender blonde breathe a faint sigh of relief but knew that there was still a lot of worry in her. After all, these trips could be pretty dangerous and there was always a chance that Maggie hadn't made it back. He gently grasped her hand to comfort her while they waited.

"How they get the cars in?" He asked the Hispanic woman over Beth's head.

She pointed down the wall a little ways, "they're working on digging a tunnel under the wall a little ways that way, for now they don't. It gets exhausting climbing back and forth over the wall to bring everything up, but it's worth it." The doctor explained.

Only a few more tense moments passed before they heard the voices, everyone seemed to be listening for the one in particular. While there were others that many wanted to hear as well, none seemed to have captivated everyone as much as Maggie.

Beth clutched Daryl's hand a little tighter when the first face showed on the podium. It wasn't one that either recognized but the male seemed happy enough to be back.

Seconds later and Sasha's face appeared, then Bob showed. Beth was holding her breath as she squeezed Daryl's hand. Two familiar faces in the sea gave her a little hope. As soon as the familiar brunette came into view a choked sob escaped the little blonde. "It's not unusual for us all to gather up like this when the groups return," Sammi explained in a hushed voice, "otherwise they'd probably be wondering what the hell we were doing." A soft giggle slipped from the woman's throat as she watched Tyreese climb up onto the wall, followed by another male and Michonne. Conrad was talking to the group for a moment, discussing how the trip went Daryl assumed.

It didn't last long before Maggie began climbing down the ladder. Daryl turned to look for Glenn but didn't see the kid yet. As if half the people knew just where he and Beth were the crowd slowly parted until Maggie had full view of her sister.

Instantly her eyes shot wide and she dropped the bag she'd been holding to the gravel. "Beth...?" She asked as if her eyes were deceiving her.

"Maggie," the blonde half-sobbed and nodded before releasing Daryl's hand. She rushed to her stunned sister and embraced her tightly. Maggie stood still for a moment of shock before laughing and wrapping her arms tightly around the younger girl, tears of elation streaking her dirty face.

Maggie pulled back long enough to cup her sisters face, looking her full on before kissing the girls cheeks and forehead and clutching her tightly once more. Daryl grinned until an elbow hit his arm, glancing over he spotted Glenn. As much as the man wanted to run up to her, as much as it killed him to wait, he knew that the girls needed their moment to reunite.

The sisters spoke in hushed tones for a minute, crying happily as they held one another. "I got here with Daryl." He heard the blonde say, drawing Maggie's gaze upward. It landed on him for only a second with a smile before shifting to the Asian at his side. She gasped and clutched her sister for support as her knees nearly buckled.

A grin spread over Glenn's lips as he stared back at his wife. Without further hesitation the male rushed forward, Beth barely had time to step out of the way before he collided with the brunette. Their arms instantly winding around one another, murmured 'I love yous' followed as they stared into each other eyes.

Maggie's gaze danced over his face as she took the time to briefly memorized his features again. His hands rose to cup her cheeks carefully before leaning in and capturing her lips in a deep kiss. Daryl found himself chuckling faintly as everyone clapped, almost like it were the perfect ending to a movie.

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	23. After

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: **

–

It didn't take long for everyone to calm down, remembering that their whoops and cheers would only draw in any walkers that might be close. Once people began to calm themselves down and Daryl had made his way over to Beth, the reunion began. Tyreese and Bob clapped him on the back happily, Maggie hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek, Sasha offered a little smile and Michonne grinned broadly before wrapping her arms around him tightly. He hugged her back the tightest. Truthfully, he'd missed Michonne a little more than he'd let on.

A lot of people offered congratulations to the happy couple who couldn't keep their hands off of one another. Maggie couldn't seem to stop watching Beth, too. It was confusing, honestly, with everyone trying to talk over one another to tell each other things. Daryl kept silent and just watched all of them until Beth gripped his hand again and smiled up at him. Unable to keep himself from doing it, he smiled back.

At least until Maggie's voice broke over everyone's "Beth Ann!" which caused the little blonde to jump slightly, her wide eyes locked onto her sisters face. Glenn flashed Daryl a guilty look and the redneck couldn't help but to sigh quietly. "You? And you?!" She asked pointing between the two of them.

"Come on Bob.. I think we should go get some sleep." Sasha stated just loud enough to be heard. With a quick smile toward the two she ushered the bald male away. Tyreese patted Daryl's shoulder with a 'good luck' sort of expression before he too sauntered off. Michonne merely crossed her arms and stared as if she couldn't wait to hear the story. Although, the grip Beth kept on Daryl's hand was a bit of a giveaway.

"Glenn!" Beth groaned as she looked at her brother-in-law in exasperation.

The male winced and took a step backward. "Sorry!" He murmured. It wasn't like it was really something he could keep from her, besides she was going to find out soon enough by the way the two looked at one another or even the fact that they slept in the same bed. No, that wouldn't be a giant red flag, not at all.

"We were gonna tell you!" Beth explained to her sister as she gripped Daryl's hand a little tighter. "Besides, I ain't that far anyway."

"What?!" Maggie's voice shot up an octave and Daryl spotted Glenn wincing once more. Obviously he hadn't told her _that_. Michonne's brows rose up a little in response, her gaze darting rapidly between the two. Glenn stepped up behind Maggie and muttered something to the brunette that no one else heard and her expression softened slightly. "Don't you tell me what to do, Glenn Rhee." She scolded, though barely sounded as if she meant it.

After heaving a sigh the woman reached for her sister's hand. "Come on." Beth tentatively took it, releasing Daryl's in the process, to step closer to her. "And don't you go anywhere, Dixon." She stated sternly while pointing a finger at the redneck.

He raised his hands in surrender and he shook his head but said nothing. Glenn stepped a little closer to Daryl and Michonne, watching the girls walk away. "This might not be pretty." He stated.

"What'd you go an' tell'er for?" Daryl snapped quietly while reaching and lightly backhanding the male's upper arm.

"Sorry, I.. all I said was that there was something between you guys.." Glenn at least had the decency to look apologetic.

"Should'a let Beth tell'er." Daryl growled as he glanced toward the women. Too late now. Of course, he knew that Maggie would find out sooner or later, he knew that she would figure it out and this would happen. There had just been the assumption that Beth and he would be the one to say it, when the time was right.

"So.. wait, there's actually something going on between you two?" Michonne interjected. Daryl couldn't really blame the woman for the look of disbelief, it wasn't as if he'd made a habit of 'hooking up' or showing any kind of real interest in anyone. It seemed less than logical to the warrior that Daryl would have romantic.. anything with anyone. Truth be told, Michonne had considered the possibility that the redneck had been gay.

Daryl glanced between the two and fought not to sigh. He'd had a hard enough time trying to say things like this to Beth, now he'd have to talk it over with not only Maggie but Glenn and Michonne too. Wonderful. "Yeah." He figured simplicity was best.

"And she's pregnant?" Michonne asked now. Instead of a verbal response he nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, even though it wasn't. "Think Maggie's going to be okay with it?" The woman stated, staring in the direction the others had gone.

"Don't think she's got much choice." He told her.

Michonne smiled a little, glad to see her friend again. "Well, I need to wash up and get some sleep, so if Maggie hasn't killed you before tonight, I'll see you later." Daryl nodded and returned the smile softly before the warrior wrapped him into another tight hug. "It's good to see you, Daryl." She told him before pulling away. With a quick wave to Glenn she turned and headed for wherever she had settled down.

"God, it's good to see everyone." Glenn interrupted his thoughts with a smile.

"I'm just surprised almost everyone made it." The redneck responded. Of course, there was still Rick and Carl out there somewhere and God only knew where Carol was. He hoped like hell he never saw her again, though. The simple thought of her coming to Terminus and seeing he and Beth, knowing that the girl was pregnant? The idea sent a shiver down his spine.

"Hey, I'm gonna head back to the house, get some lunch, you wanna come?" Glenn asked now, once again interrupting his thoughts, as he took a step away. Daryl glanced down the path the girls had walked before shaking his head. "You're really going to stand there and wait?"

"She told me to." A grin began to spread over his lips as he fought not to laugh. Honestly Daryl wasn't afraid of Maggie, not in the least bit. While she could be a tough bitch, he had a good feeling she wouldn't try to fight him. Even if she did, it was unlikely he would fight her back. Unless he absolutely had to do it, Daryl wasn't going to fight a woman.

–

"So, lemme get this right? You've spent all this time with Daryl and now you're pregnant?" Maggie asked causing Beth to sigh heavily.

She shifted a hand up and pushed it back through her hair to knock the loose strands away from her face. "Yes." The girl stated bluntly. They were out of both sight and earshot of pretty much everyone else and Beth didn't feel like walking anymore. Instead she leaned back against the brick wall of the gym, listening to the voices of the children that carried through the open window above her head.

"So, you spent ten months with just Daryl?" The elder sister asked in disbelief.

"You spent ten months not looking for me." Beth countered, trying to keep the hurt from her tone, though it inevitably seeped through. She'd been trying to make a joke out of it but it didn't work that way. Especially considering she was actually upset about it.

Maggie's expression changed rapidly as a sigh fell from her lips. The elder sister brushed her hands back through her dirty hair, then shook her head gently. "I'm sorry, Beth, but after everything with Dad I just.. I didn't think.."

"You didn't think I'd made it." Beth finished for her. She wasn't stupid, she'd known that her sister hadn't believed in her. Hell, it took a long time before Daryl had, and even longer before she had believed in her own abilities.

The brunette chewed on her lower lip and looked away from her sister with guilty sort of grimace before shaking her head. "I went back to the prison when I noticed you weren't on the bus.. I couldn't find you. By then the bus had left and I thought Glenn was on it and.."

"It's fine. If I hadn't been with Daryl I don't know that I would have made it." She confided.

"Beth.."

"What, Maggie?"

"It's just.. he's so much older than you.."

"And?! What does that even matter? Dad was almost fifteen years older than my mom and they were happy. Besides, I'm not a little girl anymore. I'm not some little kid who needs you to look out for me all the time." The blonde felt her irritation rising and with it the tears that began to blur her vision. She hated that every time she got angry the tears stung her eyes. "I love him, and he loves me and we don't need your blessing or approval. It'd be nice, yeah, but I'm not asking for it."

Maggie was taken completely aback as she stared at her younger sister. The girl was really no longer a girl, of that she'd been right. She was a woman who was completely capable of making these kinds of choices. Besides, what could she really do about it now.. especially when those three words slipped out. "You love him?"

"I do." The girl said as she crossed her arms lightly over her chest.

Maggie stared at her younger sister, fighting to think of an argument that made any bit of sense. She thought of what their father might have to say about it, what he'd said about her and Glenn. Of course, she also thought that her and Glenn's relationship was a lot different than Beth and Daryl's. After several long moments of silence she finally spoke again. "So, how far are you?"

The petite blonde merely shook her head. "Not too sure, couple months."

"And you're sure he loves you?"

"Mm, I am." Beth replied with a slow smile spreading across her lips.

"Alright..." Maggie sighed and shook her head in defeat. She then stepped up to her younger sister and wrapped the girl into another tight hug. "I missed you, Beth."

"I missed you too, Maggie. It's crazy to think that it's been almost a year since we saw one another." She murmured against her sister chest while holding tightly to her.

"Yeah, it is." The two hugged one another for a few minutes longer.

–

Daryl remained still, leaned back against the wall as he waited for the women to join him. Was he worried about Maggie's reaction? Not particularly. While he was certain Maggie could convince Beth of just about anything she wanted to, there was no way she'd be able to talk the girl out of loving him. Just like no one could talk him out of loving her.

He really wasn't sure what he was worried about, actually. Well, other than what could happen in a couple months time when Beth went into labor. If anything that was the one thing that he couldn't seem to get off his mind. What was going to happen to Beth, would everything be alright, would she be like Lori? He hoped and prayed that with a real doctor here, someone who knew what the hell they were doing that they would be fine, that Beth would be okay. It still scared the crap out of him.

His arms crossed lightly over his chest as he leaned back against the wall, staring down at his worn boots absently. Just like it had last night as he thought about everything that could happen the panic began to overwhelm him. Except this time it wasn't limited to a painful constriction in his chest, this time his heart raced and he felt nauseous. If it weren't for the fact that his back was pressed so solidly against the wall he probably would have dropped when his knees began to give out from under him, the worry getting to him more that he cared to admit.

A hand gently touched his shoulder, snapping him from his panicked thoughts with a sharp gasp as his dark blue eyes struggled to focus on the pale girl in front of him. The vibrant red hair gave her away. Even if she was slightly blurred in his vision. "What, Rosie?" He grunted as his right hand rose, rubbing at the bridge of his nose as he fought to get himself back in control.

If he were only allowed to list a set number of things that irritated him beyond belief, allowing others to see when he felt weak would be near the top of that list. Right next to bullies, seeing women get knocked around and being alone. While he could handle the last one a little better than the rest, it just depended on the kind of alone he was. Being completely and utterly without anyone else tore him apart. In this world it was more likely to be that sort of alone than it had ever been before.

"You okay, Daryl?" The girl asked, gently rubbing at his arm.

He rolled his shoulder to pull himself out of her grasp while nodding. "'m fine." That was another thing, he'd never really cared for people touching him. After everything with his dad growing up it was just easier if people didn't make physical contact with him. Daryl didn't mind it so much when it was Beth, when it was every now and again or when he initiated the contact. That wasn't the case with the red-head.

She was persistent and reached out to touch his arm again. "You sure? Looks like the heat's getting to you or something."

Once again Daryl pulled himself away and nodded. "I'm fine, jus' got a lot on my mind." He stated honestly.

"Anything I can do?" The girl asked while stepping a little closer, her tone a little too flirty for his comfort.

Daryl stared at her for only a moment before shaking his head. "No." His answer was blunt and the girl instantly put on the little pout as if he'd hurt her feelings.

"If you ever need a friend, I can be a real good listener." She murmured, once more stepping closer to put herself in his personal bubble.

His back was to the wall and the girl stood far too close to him to just walk past her, so without hesitation he side-stepped her and forced a smile. "I'll remember that." He stated with every intention of forgetting it as soon as he walked away from her.

He spotted her lips part for speech, though after a quick glance over his shoulder she sealed them again and nodded. Daryl shifted to look behind him to see whatever it was she had, spotting Beth and Maggie walking toward him, and by the time he'd looked back the red-head was already walking away. Rosie seemed like she was probably a good person, in some way, but she was just too chipper and she was _way_ too friendly for her own good.

Turning toward the sisters that walked his way, Daryl had to once more force himself to calm down, keep the crazed and panicked thoughts to himself so that the blonde didn't get freaked out. She didn't need the worries that were flowing through his head, though he had a feeling that they were already there. Beth just seemed a little better at keeping them hidden.

"What'd she want?" Maggie asked when she finally came to a stop in front of him, nodding in the direction Rosie had gone.

Daryl felt his shoulders rise and fall involuntarily. "Dunno." He murmured, turning his eyes toward the blonde who smiled softly.

"Watch out for her, she's got a reputation." The elder sister informed him.

A soft chuckle escaped him while nodding. "Conrad told me."

"He'd certainly know." Maggie stated and rolled her eyes. She pushed her hands quickly back through her hair before squaring her shoulders and looking at the redneck full on. Daryl was actually amazed at how confident the girl looked, there was almost a fierceness about her that he had never seen before. "Alright, I'm going to make this clear, Daryl. I don't much care for the idea of you and my sister but it's not my choice. It's hers. But know this," she stepped closer–almost as close as Rosie had been–to stare him straight in the eye, "one wrong step and you will have to deal with me." She threatened.

While her threat wasn't something that actually left him quivering with fear he wasn't stupid enough to say that. Instead he looked briefly toward Beth, who offered a small smile, then back toward the elder sister. "Maggie, I love your sister, I ain't gonna do anythin' to hurt her." He stated boldly. It wasn't the simplest thing for him to do, to just spit out something so emotion-filled but Daryl knew that he needed to. Maggie needed to understand.

"And this baby?" She asked now, glancing quickly over at her younger sister who was very clearly fighting not to roll her eyes. "You gonna take–"

"–care of it, too?" He finished her sentence, then nodded while keeping his eyes locked against hers. "Yeah, I will." He promised. Sure, he was still internally freaking out at the whole prospect, Daryl knew that he would protect Beth and their child with his life. He'd fight for them to his last breath. No matter what.

Maggie stared at him for a moment as if she were trying to determine his honesty. When she was satisfied a smile broke across her lips and she leaned in to wrap an arm around his shoulders in a quick hug. Daryl gently patted her back, almost awkwardly, just before she stepped back. "Welcome to the family, Dixon." The brunette said with a grin.

"Now will you go find Glenn and stop buggin' us?" Beth asked in exasperation.

"He went back to the house.. make lunch or something." He told her. Maggie took a moment to lean over and kiss her sisters head, then pulled back. Without another word she turned and ran for the house. "I think we should prob'ly stay away from there the rest'a the day." He said as his gaze shifted down toward the blonde.

Beth laughed and nodded quickly. "Might be a good idea." She admitted as she stepped closer. Her slender arms wrapped around his waist in a gentle hug and he gladly returned it.

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	24. Neighborly Advice

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: Idea for this chapter inspired by CherryMountain. Also, I do apologize in the delay in posting the newest chapter, I needed to go back through everything prior to this and check for any errors. Thanks to everyone for their patience.**

–

The first couple of days after Maggie's return Beth and Daryl avoided the house and the couple themselves as much as possible. Mostly because they knew that Maggie and Glenn would need a bit of alone time to reunite with one another. Neither seemed to mind much as they found other things to occupy themselves, like working or talking amongst themselves about the future and what they thought of Terminus.

Admittedly, Daryl was still petrified with worry about Beth's pregnancy. He believed that he could conquer just about anything in this world, except the very high probability of her death. While the two found things to talk about with the pregnancy, neither fully addressed it. Daryl was honestly avoiding talking about it, if only because every time he even thought of it he could feel the panic rising.

The sun was setting and most of the town had finished their work for the day, most were going back to their homes for dinner or to spend time with family but Beth was still avidly avoiding the house while she knew her sister and brother-in-law weren't working. So instead she and Daryl spent the evening wandering the streets in the hopes of memorizing everything a little more.

They were wandering passed the gym where several children were playing in the front, drawing on the building with a bit of chalk that someone had brought back from the run. Mika looked up from her drawing of a very indistinguishable flower and grinned toward Beth. Daryl had to admit that the blonde really had a way with kids. All of the ones here seemed to love her, except Lizzie but there seemed to be something just a little off about that girl.

The little girl brushed her hands on her pants while climbing to her feet, then rushed over to Beth. "Did you see?!" She asked excitedly.

"See what?" Beth asked in response, glancing toward Daryl as if he might know what the child was talking about. When he shrugged with confusion written on his features she glanced back to Mika.

"Judith is crawling!" The little one beamed up at the two. Daryl had heard something about it a couple of days before, Beth had heard Tyreese talking about it this morning but neither had seen the little ass kicker in action. "Come on!" Mika bounced on her toes happily as she grasped the blonde's hand and began tugging her inside. Since Beth was still gripping to Daryl's hand she pulled him along.

A glance around told him that most of the kids were playing outside, except a few older ones who were lounging on their beds reading. Judith was in her crib and had pulled herself to stand by holding onto the rail tightly. When the baby spotted Mika she began bouncing happily with a little giggle.

No one said anything to the young girl as she reached over the side and lifted the baby from her bed, then coddled her close. It was easy to see that Mika doted on the child, the time they'd spent running from the prison with her and Tyreese had obviously bonded them. Mika grinned up at Beth before carefully setting the baby onto the floor and walking a couple paces away. "Judith. Judith." The child called to get the baby's attention when Judith simply smiled widely up at Beth.

When her attention finally shifted to Mika she pushed one hand out unsteadily, followed by her knee, then the other arm. Only a couple of seconds had passed before she was moving relatively quickly, laughing the whole way. Her laughter bounced off of the surrounding walls as Mika stepped back, letting the little one follow her.

Beth snickered and glanced up to Daryl, who smiled awkwardly as he glanced back to the baby. While he cared for Judith, it was actually a little difficult to be so close.. especially when his mind was already reeling with possibilities.

"Mika," the voice of an older woman called, "dinner."

After turning the baby to face Beth and pointing to the older girl Mika rushed off to get something to eat. Beth squatted, reaching out toward the baby and calling her. Judith smiled widely as her hands slapped the cool floor in her rush over. Picking the baby up, Beth glanced toward Daryl briefly before the smiling child captured her attention.

He couldn't help but to think that she was a natural when it came to kids. They all responded to her, they all wanted to be near her and laugh at whatever silly thing she might have said. He, on the other hand, was even more awkward with kids than he was adults and that certainly didn't help his paranoia.

"Beth!" They turned quickly toward the voice who called from the door. Michonne stood there, watching the two for a moment. After flashing Daryl a quick smile she looked back to the blonde. "Sammi's looking for you."

A sigh fell from the girl's lips as she hugged the baby once more, then handed her to Daryl. "I'll be right back." She murmured, pausing only long enough to watch him cradle the baby to his chest as if she were still a newborn. Beth couldn't help but to laugh faintly before pushing herself onto her toes in order to press a kiss against his cheek.

Daryl offered a quick smile back to the girl, then looked down at the child in his arms. The baby smiled widely up at him and he was quickly reminded of Carl. Though he'd never seen Carl as a baby, he'd seen him in his younger days and the boy had been friendly enough. He'd had a smile whenever he could and seemed genuinely happy to see most people. Judith was the same, really. The child always seemed to have a smile for everyone who looked her way.

He hadn't realized that the panic was taking hold of him until it was too late. With the little one nestled so closely to his chest he hadn't felt the constriction until the room swirled around him as his paranoid and worried thoughts pummeled into his mind. Daryl had known that he'd had another nightmare last night and he'd done his level best to ignore it all day. As usual he assumed that if he pushed the thoughts and feelings away they would eventually fade.

That's not the way the world worked.

As he held the baby the nightmare flooded into his mind, all other sounds being drowned out except the screams in his head.

_It had started normal enough, with he and Beth talking and laughing about something trivial as they rested in bed. The change was subtle enough that neither seemed to notice it, neither paid much attention. When the blonde winced he frowned and shifted closer on the bed. "You okay?" He asked. Beth nodded but he noticed a sweat breaking along her unnaturally pale forehead. "Beth?"_

"_I'm fine.." she whispered and dropped a hand to her swollen belly with another wince. "He's just moving a lot."_

"_Lot more'n normal?" He asked, brows furrowing in concern at the lack of color to her face._

"_..I.. Daryl.." she panted, eyes closing against the sudden pain._

"_MAGGIE!" He felt himself shouting while pushing the blonde to lay down in the hopes that she'd be more comfortable. "MAGGIE, GET SAMMI!" He shouted again._

_Without even peeking her head in to see what was going on the brunette darted out of the house and by the sound of it Glenn went running, too. Beth clutched her stomach as a quiet cry escaped her. "I think.. it's time.." she groaned painfully._

"_I know, Maggie went to get the doc. Jus'.. jus'.. deep breaths, right?" He felt his own panic rising. Sammi had assured the both of them that Beth would be fine, that their baby would be fine, that there wasn't a thing to worry about. Did that lessen his paranoia? Not one bit. Beth had seemed relieved by it, though and he supposed that was what mattered in the long run._

"_Ow.." she murmured distantly, her voice weak. As his gaze took in her face Daryl noted that she was even paler. How in god's name was that even possible? A quiet squelching sound drew his attention to her stomach where her hands lay almost limply across it. The sound was utterly familiar but for the life of him Daryl couldn't remember why._

"_..Beth?" His own voice was small as he leaned closer, gently pulling her hands away from the fabric of her shirt until he could lift it up. A strangled gasp escaped his throat at the sight of her pale stomach shifting, the tiny body inside flailing about. When he heard her panting breaths his gaze snapped upward in time to see her head loll off to the side. With the assumption that she'd passed out he quickly crawled to the head of the bed, tapping at her pale cheek. "Beth? Come on, baby, wake up." _

_The squelching sounded again and Daryl was hit with the sudden realization of it's familiarity. It was the sound a walker made when it tore through flesh. "Beth. Wake up, girl." He commanded now, tapping harder at her pale cheek. "Wake up, please." Daryl felt his panic rising faster as the little blonde laid limply against the pillow._

_He didn't realize others had arrived until he heard the heavy footfalls behind him as tears had began to sting his eyes. "Come on, Beth.." he plead as the doctor rushed around the side of the bed._

_Her soft gasp drew his gaze upward to her shocked face. When Daryl noticed her gazing downward at the blonde's stomach he forced in a steadying breath before shifting his eyes to follow. Beth's stomach had been torn open by the baby, the tiny little walker that writhed in the blood and flesh surrounding it._

He'd sat bolt upright from the dream, terrified and it had taken nearly an hour to calm himself down while staring between Beth's peacefully sleeping face and her still relatively flat stomach. It had taken far too long for him to convince himself that it had been a nightmare and even now, hours later, he couldn't shake it.

He couldn't stop the worry and the panic that seemed to cripple him as he thought of all the varying possibilities of what could happen when the time came. Every single one of his nightmares, awake or asleep, ended with Beth dead or the baby dead or both. When the gym spun around him, Daryl forced himself to walk to the wall beside Judith's crib, clutching her tightly to his chest for fear of dropping her. As soon as his shoulder collided with the wall he allowed himself to sink to his knees on the floor.

His hope was to regain control of himself before anyone noticed. Daryl didn't realize that stopping his heart from hammering madly or his breathing from coming in short, pained gasps wouldn't be easy. Especially when he felt as if he would pass out.

"Daryl?" A familiar voice called at the edge of his mind, trying to draw him back to reality rather than the terrifying fantasy his mind had allowed itself to become trapped within. He felt a pair of strong hands attempt to pull Judith from his arms and only tightened his grip on the now squirming baby. "Daryl, come on.." the voice murmured soothingly. He clutched onto the baby until his panicked breathing caused his fingers to go numb. When his grip slackened, the hands easily plucked the child from his arms.

As soon as the girl was safely tucked into her crib those same strong arms wound around him in a tight hug, pulling him close. Her hands brushed back through his hair in the attempt to calm him while 'shhing' him quietly. He could tell by the grip and size of the woman that it wasn't Beth, which made him wonder who it was. Try as he might to pull himself together long enough to look at the one who held onto him, he couldn't.

Breathing was becoming painful as he fought off the tears that steadily filled his dark eyes. The voice in his ear calm as she stroked his hair and continued to shush him. "Come on, Daryl, deep breath for me." The muffled voice commanded and while it rung with familiarity, he still couldn't place it. Not with his thoughts swimming so rapidly.

As he blinked in the attempt to pull everything back into focus it was suddenly marred by a mess of dark hair. It seemed to take forever but his breathing began to return to a semi-normal pace as he forced himself to think of the here and now. To think of Beth, wherever she was. To think of who in the hell was coddling him. With the sudden paranoid thought that it could be Rosie he wretched himself back away from the woman, then sighed in relief as Michonne's face swam into view.

She looked concerned, almost as if she were thinking of calling one of the doctors. Her dark eyes danced over his face as her muscular arms fell to her sides. The warrior looked as though she were going to say something, though she remained silent and simply stared at him.

"Hey," he grunted, unsure of his voice just yet.

"Hey.. you okay?" She asked, turning to settle next to him on the floor. He hummed a 'mhm' and nodded but didn't say anything more. "Don't lie to me." She demanded sternly.

One look up at her pretty face told him that she wouldn't buy 'I just needed to sit down' or 'couldn't catch my breath'. Michonne was more intuitive than that and was easily going to see through whatever bullshit lie he could concoct. Turning his gaze away from her Daryl let out a heavy sigh, relieved that he could take a deep enough breath to do so, and ran his hands back through his hair.

He glanced up toward the crib where Judith was staring absently around at everyone, just to be sure she was fine before looking down at his hands. "What's going on with you?" Michonne asked, drawing his gaze toward her face. When his shoulders rose and fell her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed slightly. "You really gonna lie to me?" She asked, now. More than nearly anyone else in the world Michonne could see through his crap.

"Iunno," he murmured and shrugged again.

"Bullshit." She countered with a hint of a smirk dancing around her lips. The woman knew that he was lying and was determined to get to the bottom of why. Sure, there were some things that were private, there were some things that no one needed to share, but she knew that Daryl had never had an attack like this. At least not as long as she'd known him. Michonne had seen him go through a lot of crazy shit in the time she'd known him and never once had he broken like that. "Come on, you can tell me."

Daryl gazed over at her for a moment before turning it up toward baby Judith again, staring for a few moments until he heard a soft 'ah' beside him. When his attention shifted back to the woman she offered a sad smile and a nod. "Scared..?" She asked quietly.

He swallowed hard and nodded. "I wasn't even this freaked when.. everythin' with Merle.." he admitted. Yeah, he'd been terrified for his brother when the man didn't come back to the prison. He'd lost a good part of himself when he'd had to take down his walker brother. That was nothing compared to the freak out he was having now. He could cope without Merle, he'd been doing it this long and while it sucked and while it was painful, it was nothing compared to how he'd feel if he'd have to make it without Beth.

There was a small part of him that wished he'd never fallen for the girl. She wouldn't be in danger now of losing her life and he wouldn't be in danger of losing her. He knew it was selfish but he couldn't help himself.

"Parenthood's a scary thing, Daryl, especially now." She voiced while looking around the gym as if to emphasize her point. None of these kids had their parents still, none of them. It was amazing that any of them had even made it as far as they had. Some had come with aunts or uncles or even grandparents while others had come in with others from larger groups that had been broken like Tyreese had with the girls. "You'll do just fine."

"Ain't me I'm worried about." He responded, eyes locked onto her.

Michonne stared back and allowed a small smile to tug at her lips. "I know." She said with a nod while reaching out an arm to wrap around his shoulder. Normally he would have protested the contact, since it was Michonne he wasn't going to argue with her. Beyond Beth, she was the closest thing he had to a friend anymore. Especially since Carol had flipped her shit and Rick was still in the wind. "I can't promise that she'll be alright but I can tell you that the docs we have here are good. Sammi is good, she'll take care of Beth."

"What if.."

"Don't do that to yourself." She demanded and shook her head quickly. While she had never met Judith's mother, there had been enough talk that she knew precisely what had happened to the woman.. and just how much it had damaged Rick and Carl. More the latter than anything. She knew what Daryl was thinking and Michonne knew she needed to get the thoughts out of his head before he panicked even more. "You don't know what could happen, not everything is gonna be like that."

"But we don't know that either." He stated and shook his head.

"And worrying about it isn't going to make things any better. All you're going to do is hype yourself up and worry Beth. She doesn't need that. What, you don't think she's just as worried as you?"

"I know she is, that ain't the point."

"How is it not? She doesn't need to worry about you and herself. I know that things are scary, I know that things are going to be hard but you need to keep it together. For her." While he knew the warrior was right, he still couldn't stop the panic that was rising with every passing day. Daryl took in a steadying breath and nodded at the warrior on his side.

His mouth opened to speak when he heard a low pitched whistle from outside the walls of the gymnasium. Before he had the chance to ask what it was Michonne was on her feet. "You good to shoot?" She asked and held out a hand.

"..Yeah?" He responded while gripping her hand and pulling himself to his feet. "What's goin' on?"

"They only blow that whistle for one reason. Must be a pretty large group of walkers comin' this way." Daryl had once more opened his mouth to respond and before he could Michonne shook her head. "Come on." She commanded.

He grasped his crossbow off of the floor as the two quickly hauled ass out of the building and toward the wall. Of course, they had to shoulder their way through the gathering crowd along the way. Several of the guards who were 'off-duty' were doing the same. As he ran behind Michonne he spotted Tyreese with Sasha on his tail.

It didn't take long at all for him to scale the ladder and come to a stop at the top of the wall beside Conrad. A group of at least forty walkers shambled quickly after two figures running toward Terminus.

**Reviews?**


	25. Hounded

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language, Feels**

**Authors Note: I'm so glad that so many of you are reading this, it really makes my day to see the reviews and love that I get from this story. It also keeps me going on writing it. I thank every one of you who read and review this!**

–

It felt like only a couple of seconds had passed before Michonne, Sasha, Tyreese and Rosie were standing around them, along with many of the other guard. It seemed as thought every guard in Terminus had come to stand, ready to fight if need be. Daryl raised his crossbow, aiming toward the group of walkers.

"Hold it!" Conrad ordered while reaching out a hand to press down on Daryl's crossbow, drawing his attention away from the walkers. "Don't need to be wasting bolts, Dixon. Only if we need to.." he instructed as his gaze danced over the two running their way.

It was only a couple of minutes longer before Michonne gasped at his side as the figures came a little further into view, making them less of specs on the horizon. The one was taller and ran with a considerable limp and the other was shorter, faster and had a large hat on his head. "Oh. My. God." She breathed. Without warning the warrior darted for the ladder leading down toward them, Conrad and several others reached out to stop her but Michonne simply brushed off their touches.

It took Daryl a moment to understand why she wanted to run toward them and when it hit him he barreled through the others to follow after Michonne. Daryl ignored the shouts from those on the wall telling Michonne and himself to stop, to come back. With no thought for himself or anything else, he rushed to help. He'd only climbed halfway down the ladder before he jumped off to hit the dirt in a careful crouch.

Michonne was faster than he was, mostly because she wasn't weighed down by the heavy crossbow. He pumped himself to run faster when he watched the taller male stumble and drop into the thick grass. The boy turned and yanked on the man's arm to haul him to his feet as the walkers drew closer, moaning and groaning loudly.

The young boy kept a hold of his father's arm and tried to keep the male upright as his limp seemed to get worse. Less than ten feet from them and Daryl heard the ring of metal on metal as Michonne ripped the samurai sword from it's sheathe on her back. Without hesitation the woman jumped behind the men and swung the sword with a small grunt of exertion, slicing the heads of the walkers in the immediate vicinity off.

Daryl on the other hand tucked himself under his friend's arm, carefully pushing the boy ahead. "Go, Carl, go!" He shouted to get the kid moving. The male knew that he had more than enough strength to carry Rick. "Come on, man." A quick look over his friends face told him that the male was in bad shape. He was pale under all the dirt and grime that caked his face, god only knew what had gotten into his leg.

A frown tugged his lips as he continued to run, pulling Rick along. Carl glanced back long enough to be certain that Daryl actually had a hold on his father before he ran ahead, bolting for the ladder. Rick mumbled something as they ran, turning his attention toward Daryl just a little longer than he should have. The action caused him to stumble again, this time nearly pulling the redneck with him.

With an annoyed sort of grunt Daryl shifted to haul the elder male onto his shoulder in a fireman's carry, carefully trying to keep hold of the male and his crossbow. It was certainly awkward. Surprising him, Michonne yanked the bow from his hand, "go!" She shouted, keeping her back toward him to defend them as they ran.

When they reached the ladder Daryl set the cop on the ground, pushing at him quickly. "Come on, Rick, go." He commanded, quickly turning toward Michonne to grasp his bow from her hands. Until Rick could get up the ladder a little ways they needed to protect him.. and themselves. He fired the first bolt with ease, watching as it slammed through the walkers head. Michonne swung her sword again to take the head off of an incoming walker.

The two fought pretty well next to one another, taking out anything that came their way, at least until they heard the voices shouting from above. "Michonne, dammit, get up here!" Carl screamed, his voice rising above the others.

"Go!" She commanded Daryl. He frowned but didn't question it and after another swing of the heavy crossbow to knock another walker on its ass he scaled the ladder quickly.

Halfway up and he was calling for the warrior to follow after him. Michonne quickly sheathed her sword once more and darted up the ladder behind him. On the wall, Daryl dropped the bow onto the bricks and his hands onto his knees, breathing heavily. The woman panted quietly, then began laughing.

"The hell's so funny?" Conrad demanded. "You two could'a been killed!"

Michonne turned her gaze to Daryl, still laughing quietly and when Daryl joined into the laughter Conrad looked as though he might blow a gasket. "What the hell is so funny?!" He said loudly.

Without a word the warrior walked to where Rick was still trying to orient himself and wrapped her arms around him tightly. He patted her back gently and chuckled quietly before she pulled away and quickly hugged Carl tightly, too. The boy grinned broadly while his arms hugged her as tightly as he possibly could. "Oh, Michonne, we knew you'd be here! As soon as we saw the signs we knew you'd be okay!"

The warrior pulled back long enough to look down at Carl and smile brightly before she pulled him close again. Daryl patted Rick on the back as he stepped closer to the man. "Where you been, man?" He asked with an arch forming in his brow.

"Kinda everywhere. Been on the run for a couple weeks now.." He stated while trying to stand to his full height but putting too much weight onto his right leg nearly dropped him to the ground.

"What happened?" Daryl asked, rushing forward and wrapping his arm around the other male to keep him from falling.

"I bashed my knee pretty good yesterday while we were running," Rick responded, glancing around at the familiar faces in the crowd gathered.

"What was you runnin' from?" He asked in concern, slowly releasing his hold on the male once more when he believed that Rick was steady enough to hold himself up.

Carl took the lead when he finally released himself from Michonne, the boy was dirty and looked as though he could use a good meal or two but over all he looked healthy enough. "This group of guys, they started tracking us not too long after we got separated from Michonne. At first we thought maybe we could team up with them to get here but they started blaming us for killing one of their friends. I don't think we ever even met the guy." The boy stated and frowned as he looked to his father.

"How did you get away?" Michonne asked as she looked between them in concern. Obviously they hadn't gotten away easily if Rick was hurting.

"Can we, uh.. get down first?" The older male asked, allowing his gaze to dance over the side of the wall. The ten foot drop wasn't all that appealing to him, especially when he was already injured.

As they'd talked the archers and bowmen had taken out the remaining walkers, only a few still attempted to clamber over the other dead in the attempt to get to the wall. Conrad glanced between the small group for a moment before looking to Michonne. "I trust you'll give 'em the tour?" The woman smiled and nodded in response and after a quick glance toward the walkers down below she descended the ladder, followed quickly by Carl. Rick went next and Daryl realized that Tyreese and the others had already gone to ground.

He wondered if anyone had thought to get Judith, then quickly wondered where Beth was. His gaze scanned the thin crowd, spotting Tyreese and Sasha standing beside Bob, Maggie stood close by with Glenn but Beth was no where in sight. He frowned darkly while looking toward the elder Greene, wondering if she knew where he sister was. Once Rick stood firmly on the ground below Daryl climbed down the ladder as well.

"So, how did you get away?" Michonne asked as the rest of the old prison group began closing in.

Carl glanced up toward his father for a moment a low sigh falling from his lips. After a couple of moments silence he sighed and pulled the hat from his head to scratch at his dirty hair. "We had to take one of them out.. I mean, at first they seemed alright and then we heard this older guy talking about it. Said we'd killed their friend and they were going to give us justice. Dad wanted to try and explain but then we realized that there was no way they would listen to us. So.."

The young male sighed, shifting uncomfortably. It wasn't the first time he'd had to kill a person. A living person but all the same it didn't make it any easier. "We started to run. I got hit in the arm with one of their arrows and.. I don't know, without really thinking about it I just turned and shot." He admitted, then rubbed at his sore arm. "So, we just kept running. After a while they stopped following us and then we saw the sign that Maggie had put up for Glenn. Thanks for that," he said with a grin toward the brunette female. She nodded in return but kept silent to allow the boy to continue.

Carl dropped his hat back onto his head and glanced around at those gathered. So many familiar faces, it really made his day. "We ran as much as we could, slept wherever we could. Night before last we both sort of just crashed in the woods. Woke up to walkers getting close so we both just started running. Dad fell and hit his knee, we've been trying to stay ahead of the walkers since." He frowned as he glanced over at his father.

Rick offered a little smile, then clapped his son on the back. "It looks like pretty much everyone made it here." He stated as his gaze danced over the welcoming faces. Daryl noted that neither asked about Carol, of course, Rick already knew and he was assuming that he'd told Carl about it over the last ten months.

"Everyone did." A voice behind Michonne piped up. The warrior woman quickly stepped out of the way to reveal Beth, holding the little baby in her arms with a wide smile on her lips. Rick's eyes widened while Carl's brows furrowed. Both looked at one another in confusion before, "want to say 'hi' to daddy?" Beth murmured down at the baby, bouncing her slightly against her hip.

"Ju..Judith?" Carl asked, looking at the others faces in shock while Rick stood rooted to the spot in shock. The blonde nodded while stepping closer. "How?!" He asked now, staring at his baby sister.

"I found her, brought her, Mika and Lizzy with me." Tyreese's deep voice stated as he smiled down at the baby. Carl grinned broadly and without hesitation reached out to pluck his little sister from the blonde's arms. After placing several kisses to her pale, chubby cheeks he turned toward his father.

Rick stood still only long enough to catch his breath before he limped forward and grasped both of his children in his arms. His shoulders shook as the tears burned his eyes. He had believed that his daughter was dead, he'd actually come to terms with it months ago. Carl had as well but of course the younger male had always had a sense of hope that they would find her. Rick hadn't. He clutched the both of them tightly to his chest, allowing the sobs to hit him.

The group thinned out, after welcoming Rick and Carl back, to get back to their own duties for the evening. Michonne lingered behind, taking it upon herself to get the family settled somewhere so that they could get something to eat and get themselves cleaned up. Daryl patted Rick on the back and flicked the hat from Carl's head with a smirk before he took a step away from them.

–

Away from the happily reunited couple Daryl glanced down at the girl. "What'd Sammi what wit'cha?" He asked, draping his arm around her shoulder to pull her close as they walked.

Her shoulders rose up quickly. "She wanted to talk about seeing if when the next group went on a run if I'd want them to try and find a portable ultrasound." She stated before a hand raised to her lips in the attempt to conceal a yawn that stretched them. "She figured we'd want to know just how far I am and what it is." The blonde replied as she turned a glance up at him.

His arm slipped from around her to grasp her hand within his as they walked toward their house, hoping that Maggie and Glenn wouldn't be loudly occupying their bedroom. "What'd you say?" While the idea of knowing just how far along in all of this she was, Daryl couldn't help but be worried. Knowing how much or little time was left would only serve to increase his paranoia. Of course, Michonne's words of wisdom about telling the girl of his nightmares and panic rang through his head. While he wanted to tell Beth everything, there was still something stopping him. He just didn't know how to tell her, especially with knowing how worried Beth had to be already.

"I told her that I wouldn't mind but I didn't want anyone in danger to get it." She stated and looked up at him. "Would you want to know?" Her pale eyes danced over his face unable to stop the faint smirk from playing over her lips.

His shoulders shrugged up quickly while shaking his head. "Long as it's healthy, I don't care what it is." He admitted, knowing that this was the easiest way to tell her about his fears.

"I was kinda thinking the same thing." She stated and squeezed his hand softly. The petite blonde was silent a moment or two before her gaze shifted upward, allowing the sun to warm her pale face. Slowly, her attention returned his face and a blush touched her cheeks when she realized he'd been watching her. "So...?"

As soon as he was caught a faint flush of his own blossomed behind the stubble on his face. "Hmm?" He hummed while his brows arched slightly. She seemed to have something on her mind and the only way to find out what was to get her talking.

Her tongue brushed across her dry lips in the attempt to wet them while she took a moment to study his features. "Which _would_ you want?" She asked.

His head shook quickly. "Like I said, don't matter, 's long as it's healthy."

"Oh come on, everybody dreams about what their first kid's gonna be." She countered, gently pushing his shoulder with a smile on her lips. When Daryl shook his head again her brows furrowed. "Really?"

A shoulder rose and fell in a brief shrug, "I never put much thought in it. Never saw myself as a dad." He told her while shifting his attention down toward her face.

"Why?" She asked curiously as they made their way up the sidewalk toward the house.

Daryl was silent a moment as he tried to arrange his thoughts in order to be sure they made sense when he spoke them. By the time he responded they were in the kitchen, Maggie and Glenn no where to be seen. "Guess it's cause'a my ol' man." He told her honestly. A hand rose to brush back through his dark hair while moving to the small bowl of fruit on the counter. After handing the blonde an apple he continued with, "kinda always thought I'd be like him."

The admission was a bit of a scary one for him. Of course, in the current world there were several things he would never be able to do like his father had. Like sit in front of a television for hours on end and shoot things in the living room or drink until he pissed himself. His biggest worry was that he'd be abusive like his father had been. He'd heard enough of that psychologist crap throughout his life about how most people reflect their parents, and if that were the case it was a scary idea.

"You won't be." Beth told him and shook her head gently. She sounded so confident in that statement that Daryl couldn't stop his brows from raising slightly.

"Why you think that?"

"Well, for one I would never be like your mother was." The girl quickly shook her head, knowing that Daryl's mother had stood idly by while her husband beat her children or drank himself into oblivion or beat the hell out of her. She'd done everything that Daryl's father had asked of her, no matter the consequence. She could never be that way. "And I wouldn't let you be like him."

Daryl glanced away from the blonde with a soft sigh falling from his lips. Without looking back at her he asked, "what if you weren't here?"

Beth frowned and shook her head. She so desperately wanted to tell him that she always would be, that there was nothing to worry about; thing was, she knew better. There was a high chance that she wouldn't be here to keep him from being like his own father. But that didn't mean that Beth would give up the hope that they could make it through this just fine. "If I weren't..." she began, setting the apple onto the counter and stepping in front of him so that he couldn't look away, "then Michonne and Glenn and Maggie and Rick will be here. You don't have to do everything alone."

A tender sort of smile tugged on her lips as she stepped closer, her hand raising to gently caress his cheek. She couldn't help but to smile softly as his eyes closed and he leaned into the touch. After a moment he spoke again, his voice smaller than before, almost as if he didn't want to be heard. "What if they weren't?" He still hadn't opened his eyes, afraid that if he looked at her he wouldn't be able to keep talking.

"Why?" She asked and though he didn't want to, he couldn't help himself from looking down at her. He felt his composure begin to crumble like it had earlier.

"I.. I dunno if I can do it alone.." he admitted quietly.

The blonde allowed a sigh to fall from her lips. "You're not going to have to, Daryl."

"We dunno that." He countered, fighting the panic attack that was beginning. He was already so worn out from the one earlier and carrying Rick and fighting with Michonne that he wasn't certain he'd be able to take another one.

"No." Beth shook her head again and stepped closer to wrap her arms around the back of his neck to force his eyes on hers. "We don't. But worryin' about it every minute of the day isn't going to make it any easier to deal with."

He frowned as his hands found her waist. Of course, she was right and it was basically the same thing that Michonne had told him earlier today. Did that decrease his worry? Not one iota. "Maybe not, but we gotta be realistic, too." He told her in a quiet voice while pulling her closer.

"And the reality is that we don't know what's going to happen." She stated and shook her head once more, frowning darkly. "We don't know anything. There's a hundred possibilities with this and if we spend every minute worrying about any or all of them then we're missing out on a lot of good. We're missing out on spending time with each other." Her hand slipped around to cup his cheek again, fighting the tears that burned her eyes.

"There's a chance I won't make it through this. There's a chance he won't. Hell, there's a chance none of us will live through tomorrow but I'm not worrying about that right now." She told him softly, yet passionately. "I just want to be with you and spend time in what's right here, right now. Stop worrying so much.. you're missing out on a lot of good things."

His arms suddenly tightened around her slender waist to draw her into a tight hug. "I love you, Beth." He murmured in her ear.

"I love you, too." She whispered back, hugging him just as tightly in return. "Now. Promise me." The blonde pulled herself back a little to look him in the eye. "Promise me you're going to stop worrying so much."

A tiny smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Don't know that I can." He quipped causing the girl to shake her head softly, rolling her eyes upward. "I'll try."

"Good because I don't know if I can handle any more people worrying over me. It's bad enough Maggie, Glenn and Sasha are fretting over it. I don't need you doing it, too." She stated before pushing several strands of his dark hair away from his face.

He fought off the little laugh that threatened his lips before nodding softly as if to reconfirm that he would try to stop worrying. Daryl honestly doubted that he would be able to but knew that he would at least make the attempt for her. He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers in a soft kiss. As he began to pull away the girl's grip tightened on him to pull him closer once more, kissing him harder.

When Beth finally pulled away a little smirk tugged at her lips. "What do you say we go break in our bedroom?"

Shock quickly colored Daryl's face as he glanced around, "wh-what 'bout Maggie?"

Her brows arched slightly with a grin forming on her mouth. "What? She gets to make us uncomfortable by hollerin' all night and we can't return the favor?" Daryl actually snickered and looked away from her, shaking his head. When he glanced back the blonde just continued to smile while gently tugging at his arm.

"I swear, I ain't never seen someone so angelic and devilish all at once." He told her while smirking. The little blonde smiled and winked in as flirty of a manner as she could before pulling on his arm again. Without warning he yanked the girl back to him, dipping his head to kiss her once more. As she nipped playfully at his lower lip he lifted her to straddle his waist while he carried her off toward their room.

**–**

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	26. 30 Days Without Accident

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I do want to let everyone know now, I do take suggestions on chapters. If there is something that you would like to see and I can bring it to light in some way do not hesitate to send me a PM about it. I do have a lot of plans for future chapters (though nothing set and mapped out just yet), so there's always the probability that something you would like to see is already going to happen.**

–

It had been a month since Rick's arrival, since Michonne had comforted him and he'd talked with Beth about his worries. A whole month had passed and it seemed like only a few days. He almost couldn't believe that so much time had passed within Terminus or that things were going so well. He'd had his worries about coming to the place and he'd been worried since their arrival, although he'd never really noticed the decrease in that worry. At least not until the last couple of days.

For some reason he'd never really saw the place as anything more than another stop on he and Beth's journey–or if she chose to stay with Maggie, a stop on his own journey–until the last couple of days. Daryl realized that he was comfortable here, that he'd actually settled down enough to call this place a 'home'. While it wasn't the same kind of home as the prison had been, he was comfortable. He was with people he cared for.

Michonne worked within the guard as well as joined Daryl on his 'hunting parties' as Conrad deemed them. Tyreese went on runs more often than not. Bob stuck close to Terminus and Sasha (who he quickly realized had fallen for each other at one point or another) while the female tended to the farms. Beth continued working with Sammi and learning all she could. Glenn stuck to the farms, Maggie worked the guard and the farms both. It had taken Rick a bit of time to heal, his knee had been badly bruised, but once he had the ex-cop quickly joined the ranks within their guard and council. Carl wanted to follow in his father's footsteps but Conrad said that he was too young, much to Carl's annoyance.

Daryl could easily understand the kids irritation with it, after all he'd been alone with his father for a long time and was still alive. Hell, that kid had done more than most of them out here. Instead Carl spent his time between Judith, the fields, and Daryl's hunting party. It irritated Rick that the kid was going outside the walls but he felt safe enough knowing that his son was with Michonne and Daryl.

So little seemed to have actually happened in the last month. Michonne and Tyreese had gone with a group to make a run a couple weeks back and had arrived to Terminus the prior evening with food, medical supplies, weapons and medications. They'd lost two men in the process.

It was an inevitable reality that they would lose someone. Daryl had considered going on the next run but Beth's paranoid pleas to stay close prevented it. She'd confided in him, finally, about the dream she'd had while unconscious nearly two months before. The little blonde had made him promise that until the baby was born he wouldn't go out with the groups. He obliged, though wished that there were more he could do.

Daryl had spoken with Conrad about it and while the man understood he was also torn between his desire to have 'a strong bowmen' out in the trenches, he was also glad to have Daryl close to home. He honestly hadn't even realized just how close he'd gotten with Conrad over the last month. While the marine could never compare to the bond Daryl held with Michonne, Rick or Beth there was definitely a friendship.

It was strange to think just how much time had passed and just how.. well things were going here. Beth was happy, especially now that she was with her sister again. Daryl was enjoying himself, between being with Beth whenever he was able and being able to go out with his hunting parties. Of course, there was still the worry and the panic about what was to come but the little blonde was doing all that she could to help ease it.

–

His arm lay across her slightly swollen belly as he slept on his own, face buried in the pillow. It'd been a long night on watch and all he wanted was to sleep through the majority of the day. Every couple of weeks one or two guards switched places on nights, if only to give the normal night watch some time off. Daryl couldn't really complain, he was still working and still got to spend time with Beth, just not as much.

He'd only gotten in a couple of hours before and had done the best he could not to wake the little blonde as she lay curled in a ball, but the moment he'd climbed into bed she'd nuzzled against him and confided that she'd had trouble sleeping without him there. He'd chuckled softly and kissed her deeply, though hadn't been able to keep his eyes open for much more.

They had fallen asleep with her back curled against his chest and his arms tucked firmly around her, but after a couple of hours he'd shifted and lay with his face in the pillow, one arm draped over her and the other hanging over the edge of the bed. He felt the blonde move, pulling out from under his arm as she climbed from the bed, "what's.. where're you goin'?" He grunted sleepily, reaching out to pull her back.

She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his head, "go back to sleep." She whispered. Daryl had begun to do just that when the sound of her voice actually registered. With a snap he raised himself off the bed.

"Beth? What's the matter?" He asked, his dark eyes dancing over her pale, tear-streaked face.

She sniffled and shook her head quickly, "nothing.."

"Bull." He murmured, reaching for her hand and dragging her back to the bed to sit beside him. Daryl wrapped his arms gently around her, one hand gently resting on her stomach. "What happened?" Naturally he assumed she'd had a horrible dream. It wasn't the first time she'd had a nightmare since they'd been together and it wasn't the first time he would comfort her. She'd done the same for him several times over the last month.

Beth swallowed hard and stared at him, her expression determined. "I was laying here thinking.. that.. it's.. it's been a year." The determination was to try and conceal the tears but the longer she spoke the more she fought to hold the sobs back. Daryl's brows furrowed slightly in confusion before he tracked back the last year. And then it hit him.

It had been close to, if not exactly, a year since the prison had fallen. A year since Hershel had died. He frowned softly and tightened his grip around her slender frame. "Oh, Beth.." he murmured while holding her tightly. She shifted and buried her face into his shoulder, allowing the sobs to take hold.

Daryl realized that things were so much different now than they'd been a year ago. When Beth had broken down any of the times before now he'd stood awkwardly by and tried to figure out what he could do to make her stop. Now? Now his arms held her tightly, his fingers combed back through her pale hair as he attempted to comfort her. He placed a gentle kiss against her temple while shushing her softly.

It took Beth nearly half an hour to calm herself down and when she did, the little blonde began to pull herself away. "And I'm keeping you from sleep.." she sobbed with renewed fervor. Daryl couldn't help but to laugh this time around, he was attributing the new tears to hormones.

"It's fine. I'm not that tired anyway." He lied. Truthfully, he felt as though he could catch another twenty hours of sleep and it still wouldn't be enough.

Beth didn't buy it, though, as she continued to sob. During Michonne and Tyreese's last run they'd found the machine that Sammi had been looking for. While it took quite a bit of power to run it, they were at least able to determine just how far Beth was. The young blonde had wanted to know precisely what she was carrying but Daryl didn't. His paranoia kept him from wanting to know too soon, from wanting to get attached to a specific gender before it was time.

Beth grudgingly agreed. Almost four and a half months, nearly half way through it all. The hormones had begun to kick in almost as soon as the nausea had worn out. Daryl wasn't sure which was worse, honestly. The fear that she would die from malnutrition from the near constant vomiting or the worry that her over-active hormones might drive her to kill him. Sometimes he was sure the latter would win out. While the girl cried more often than had miniature fits of rage, he was certain that at some point that would change.

Naturally, in order to keep the girl from getting angry with him, Daryl kept that worry to himself. He'd told Michonne and the woman had laughed at him, remembering how she'd felt through her own pregnancy. She'd been relatively calm throughout, though her sister–as she'd confided–had been an emotional wreck. Hopefully, Beth would just stick to tears. He could deal with that, at least.

"It's fine." He assured her while stroking the blonde locks in the attempt to calm her. Another twenty minutes passed before the girl pulled herself back, pale eyes bloodshot from crying.

"Oh, god. I'm sorry." She moaned while rubbing her face.

Daryl simply smiled lightly and shook his head. "Don't worry 'bout it." He brushed his fingers back through her hair once more to calm her. "You okay?"

The girl took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly while nodding softly. "I'm better now. Sorry.." she winced a little, frowning. "I hate this."

"What?"

"Being so... over emotional. I feel like I'm going to burst into tears every fifteen minutes, it's ridiculous!" Beth threw her arms in the air.

"Hey, there's perks to it." He countered with a sly grin.

Beth's eyes narrowed slightly at him, pulling back just a hair. "Oh yeah? Like what?" She challenged. In response Daryl leaned forward and pressed his lips firmly against hers. Without hesitation her arms wound around him, returning it deeply. Every terrifying and terrible thought seeped from her mind as she leaned in closely, losing herself in his touch. When he finally broke away to catch a breath she nodded softly. "Okay.. I see your point."

"Mm, told ya."

Beth was hoping that that wouldn't go away. It didn't matter what she was thinking or worrying over, the moment his arms were around her, the moment his lips collided with hers she could forget every other trouble in the world. She just prayed that throughout the remainder of this pregnancy it would continue to hold true. Especially if she were to continue being so emotional. Her pale eyes locked against his with a smile forming on her lips. "Alright, get some sleep.. I need to go catch up with Sammi anyway." The girl commented while leaning in to press a kiss against his forehead.

Before the girl could pull herself out of his arms and the warmth of their bed, his hand settled against her stomach. While she still felt the subtle flutters of the baby moving around inside at random, they were still too small for Daryl to notice, yet she loved that he tried. She really loved that it was actually showing now and not just something only a select few knew. The little pouch that had formed, while still mostly hidden behind her clothes, was noticeable if one were looking for it.

–

After grabbing a quick bite to eat and washing herself up the blonde stood in front of Sammi at what they were deeming not only the doctors office, but the doctor's quarters. It seemed silly to Beth to call it that when only Sammi and Cole resided here. Bob stayed with Sasha and Tyreese and she was with Maggie, Glenn and Daryl. It seemed silly, but she'd never commented on it.

"How are you feeling today?" The Hispanic woman asked while searching through the bins that lined the back wall.

"Little tired, didn't sleep well last night."

"Why? Everything okay?" The woman asked, concern evident in her voice. As the only pregnant woman in town Sammi spent a lot of time with Beth. Sammi figured that as a woman and a previous Emergency Room physician she was the best qualified to handle the woman's pregnancy. She'd delivered countless babies in the ER she'd worked in in Florida. Bob and Cole had both been military medics, which meant they had little training when it came to labor and delivery.

"Yeah, Daryl just worked the wall last night. Had trouble falling asleep without him." She said with a faint blush filling her cheeks. It felt almost silly to admit it but at the same time she knew that the woman didn't judge her. "Did you.. ever have anyone?" She asked while leaning back against the wall.

Sammi turned a gentle smile over to the girl and nodded. "Yeah." The doctor fell silent for a short time while she wrote a little on the paper. She took stock and wrote down the things they could use or desperately needed to send out with the next run in the hopes that they could find something. "My husband, we got married right out of high school." She commented and laughed softly. "He was the 'bad boy' and my daddy was furious. But he told me that as long as I made something of my life he wouldn't care and as long as Jon didn't hurt me he'd let him live." Another chuckle slipped from her full lips. "I went to med school, he cleaned up his act and went on to be a cop."

Beth smiled softly as she looked up at the elder woman, glad to see a smile on her face at the memories. After several moments of silence she spoke again, quieter than before. "What happened to him?"

While most women probably would have cried or at least started to, Sammi offered a sad smile and shook her head. "I don't know." Her shoulder rose and fell in a shrug. "When the dead started coming back to life everything went crazy. We got everything packed to go and put in my car but on the way out to the car they were.. everywhere. We got separated and at that point I couldn't protect myself, not really. I heard him shouting that I needed to get in the car and go.. and I did. I haven't seen him since."

"Do you think he's still out there?" Beth felt herself ask before she could stop herself.

"It's a nice sentiment but no. I'm afraid my poor Jon is lost to this world." The woman replied sadly, but still without tears. Beth had to wonder just how the woman could be so disconnected, though as she thought about it she realized it had been two years since the fall of everything. The woman had probably just grown accustomed to the idea that her husband was gone. Much like Rick and Carl had for Judith.

"What if he were?" Again Beth hadn't been able to stop herself from asking the question.

Sammi chuckled at the girls question and shook her head. "Then the chances of him finding me here of all places are a billion to one. I've gotten used to the idea that he's gone, just as I would assume he's gotten used to the idea that I am. If he were still alive that is."

"Don't you want to have that hope, though?"

Sammi smiled while she reached out to pat the girls soft hand. After only a moment she shook her head. "You're still young, Beth. Hope can be a great thing, just as Faith can.. but it can also be dangerous. If I put all my hope and Faith in the idea that he were okay and that we would find one another again I would be perpetually crushed by it." She let out a little sigh as she glanced around. "After the first month I lost the hope that your sister would ever see him again. Maggie held onto it, but it was wearing her down. Every day that Glenn didn't show up here was another day that a piece of your sister broke off.

"Of course, it was all unnoticed by her but everyone around her saw it. She was slowly breaking down and once it happened there wouldn't be a come back. Every one of us prayed for Glenn to get here, if only because we didn't want to lose your sister. Looking back on it, I never could have been Maggie." She admitted with a tiny frown tracing her lips. "While I loved Jon with every fiber of my being and would have given anything to have him with me, I didn't hold any hope. As soon as I knew what those creatures were I knew he was lost to me when we were separated."

Beth couldn't help the tears that had sprung to her eyes as she listened to the Hispanic woman's words. It was heartbreaking to know that the person she'd loved more than anything was gone and would probably never be seen again. Even more so to know that Sammi had no hope of ever seeing him again.

The good doctor sniffled and allowed a wide smile to trace her lips, "enough about me. How are you feeling?" She repeated the question from earlier.

Beth wiped at her face and shook her head, "a little tired.. that's all." She winced when she realized it was a lie. "Is it completely normal to be this emotional all the time?"

"For some, yes. It may wear off as the months go by. Some women are only overly emotional for a month or two and then when they start feeling the baby twisting and turning in there they just can't help but feel different. Give it a bit of time." The blonde dropped her hand to her stomach, cradling the soft pouch there. "And how is Daryl handling it?" The woman asked with an arch in her brow.

"Better than me, I think.." she frowned softly as she thought of his paranoia and worry. They had both expressed their concerns to one another and while Beth was certain that Daryl was coping better than she was, there was still the thought that maybe he'd just become very good at concealing it. "I don't know, though. I mean, sometimes I think that there's something more going on in his head." She voiced the concern with a frown.

Sammi opened her mouth to speak at the same time they heard a shout from outside. Brows furrowed the woman's gaze shifted to the large window that allowed for all of the light to fill the room to see several people–mostly guard–running passed. "What in the world?"

**–**

**Reviews?**


	27. Killer Within

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note:**

–

After Beth had left Daryl had tossed and turned in the attempt to fall back to sleep but he couldn't stop thinking about Hershel and the fact that it had been a whole year since he'd died. He hated seeing Beth in the pain she'd been in because of it, though he knew that there was nothing he could do. The best he _could_ do was try to ease her mind. She was over emotional already and freaking out about it wasn't good for her or the baby.

Sammi had instructed them to give her as little stress as possible in her emotional state. Specifically because her heart rate seemed higher than it should be. Just another thing to add to his worries, it would seem. While Daryl had discussed a lot of his fears with Beth, he still kept a good majority hidden, if only because he was scare to actually tell her. She was scared enough and worried enough.

He continued to remind himself what Beth had said 'focus on the good' and Michonne's orders to try to keep himself calm. It wasn't always simple, but he did the best that he could. It was all that could be done. Rolling onto his back, a heavy sigh fell from his lips. Even though he was completely exhausted Daryl knew he wouldn't get back to sleep easily.

His dark eyes stared at the ceiling for a short time before hauling himself out of the bed. If he couldn't sleep, he could at least do something. After checking the house and realizing Maggie and Glenn were gone he grasped his crossbow and made his way out the door. Beth was most likely with Sammi, Glenn would probably be in the field, Maggie could have been anywhere between the field and somewhere along the wall.

As he drew closer to the wall a familiar peppy voice caused his eyes to roll slightly. "Hey, there, Dixon! Thought you'd still be sleeping?" Daryl turned and offered a quick smile toward Rosie before shaking his head.

"Too bright." He lied and turned his back on her. Over the last month the little red-head seemed to have made it her mission to annoy him whenever possible, which was at pretty much every single turn since the woman spent almost all of her time on the wall.

"Conrad won't let you work, you just got off, what? Three hours ago?"

"Closer to six." He responded without looking back at her. Daryl brushed off the girl as he quickly clambered up the ladder where Conrad stood with Gavin. He nodded quickly toward Gavin, a tall black man with broad shoulders and golden eyes, then shifted his gaze toward the ex-marine. "Hey boss."

"Daryl! Shouldn't you be sleeping?" The man asked gruffly while checking out Gavin's longbow. Apparently he'd been having problems with it shooting straight and couldn't figure out the cause on his own. '_As if Conrad actually knows what's goin' on with it,'_ Daryl thought and shook his head.

"I got enough."

"So go spend time with blondie." Conrad suggested. Daryl, admittedly, hated the nickname for Beth even more than Beth did. It didn't seem to matter how many times he corrected the blonde male, though, because Conrad still continued to say it.

"She's workin'."

"Shouldn't she be resting, too?"

Daryl heaved a silent sigh and shook his head again. "She ain't that far." He quipped. While he agreed that it might be best for the girl to keep off her feet a little more, Beth argued. She'd told him that until Sammi told her it wasn't safe or until she felt it wasn't safe, she would continue to help out as much as possible. He could understand the part of sitting around though, God knew it got dull after only a couple of hours without the ability to channel surf or pick up a new book.

It had actually gotten to a point that he'd begun pestering people about finding books on their runs and bringing them back. Beth would need them eventually, why not make a stock pile now. Besides, others could easily use them as well.

"Yeah.. well, you shouldn't be up here until ya got a couple more hours in ya."

"I'm alright." Daryl assured the man. Conrad regarded him for several moments as if to determine whether or not the brunette was lying. He simply sighed and shook his head.

"Alright, take Gavin's place. Gavin, why don't you go find Paul and see if he can figure out what's goin' on with this thing. Can't have you up here with a bad bow." After he passed the longbow back to the taller male Gavin nodded, waved to Daryl and began his descent down the ladder. Conrad turned now, looking out over the open field. "So, how's she doin'?"

Daryl shrugged his shoulders up lightly without really looking at him, his gaze resting on the tall grass that tossed gently in the soft wind. "She's alright, I guess. 'Bout as good as anyone can be." He sighed, once more forcing the morbid thoughts from his mind. Thus far the only ones he'd shared them with were Beth, Michonne and Rick. Rick could understand more than anyone else what he was going through.

Of course, he was careful when talking to Rick because he didn't want to dredge up bad memories for him. Rick had enough of his own problems without adding any of Daryl's to the mix. The idea of sharing any of them with Conrad wasn't all that appealing. Not because he didn't think he could trust the man, Conrad had shown that he was a very trustworthy individual, but because Daryl simply wasn't close enough to the guy to feel comfortable telling him something like that.

"Yeah.. Well, lemme know if you need some time off or somethin'." The male said helpfully.

Daryl nodded lightly before Conrad patted his shoulder, then began a walk along the wall to check on the others.

It was a pretty nice day, actually. The sun was beating down while the clouds provided some cover from the heat it produced. If Daryl had to guess he would say that it was just under 100 degrees but the gentle winds that blew were enough to cool it down a little. In the distance he spotted a lone figure walking toward Terminus and raised his crossbow to stare down the sight.

He actually wished for a scope to magnify it. Daryl knew that until the figure was close enough to see its face he wouldn't know whether or not to fire. Instead he stood still, watching the figure slowly approach. He was watching closely to see if there was a stagger in the walk or anything that would indicate it wasn't a living person.

It took close to twenty minutes for the figure to come close enough that Daryl could determine it wasn't a walker but another person. He lowered the bow to his side, then waved his arm above his head in order to call the person closer. Less then two minutes later the bow snapped back into position, though. "Stay right there!" He shouted to the woman.

"Daryl!" Conrad called, stepping closer. He'd obviously finished his long walk around the wall in time to have seen the new arrival and Daryl's reaction. "Everyone is welcome in Terminus, lower your weapon."

"Not her!" He snapped, refusing to lower the crossbow. His lip twitched, feeling his blood boil.

"Sun's getting' to your head, boy. Lower your weapon." Conrad commanded. "Come on, miss, he ain't gonna fire."

"Take one step and I'll put this bolt through your skull 'fore you can blink." Daryl shouted over the other male.

"The hell's your problem, Dixon?"

Daryl's eyes narrowed down the sight of his crossbow, taking in the silver-haired woman who stood with her arms crossed over her chest and an almost cocky sort of expression filling her features. His finger twitched on the trigger as he waited for the woman to step closer. Obviously she had the smarts to stand her ground. "She tried to kill Beth." He snapped at Conrad without removing his gaze from the woman.

"And what's the rule here?" Conrad asked, shifting himself in front of Daryl to block his shot. "Daryl! What's the rule!?" When the brunette simply scowled darkly at him in response he spoke again. "It doesn't matter what anyone has done in the past, what's done is done and everyone's welcome here."

"NOT. HER!" Daryl shouted. Had he been prepared for it, Daryl could have stopped Conrad, but the man moved with surprising speed and quickly wretched the crossbow from Daryl's grasp.

"Everyone is welcome. Don't like it, stay away from her." Conrad stated while holding the bow. "Come on, miss." He called now.

Carol grinned and quickly found the ladder to make her way up. Without the bow Daryl's only weapon was the hunting knife that was pretty much permanently attached to his belt and his hand was currently resting on it's handle, just waiting. The woman stood tall in front of Conrad without even passing a glance toward the redneck who seethed under the hot sun. "Welcome to Terminus. Conrad Riley."

"Carol," she stated while shaking his hand and smiling, "Carol Peletier. I'm glad I made it."

"Conrad, she can't be here." Daryl growled through his teeth. His eyes didn't leave the woman and his hand refused to leave his knife.

Conrad sucked in a breath, trying his best to appease everyone. "Daryl here says you tried to kill his girl. That true?"

The elder woman turned her gaze toward Daryl for a moment, "hey stranger." She murmured, ignoring the ferocious look he returned. "Yes, I did." She stated when her attention shifted back toward Conrad. "I apologize for it. I'd been on my own a very long time and I lost my head."

"There, see. She's sorry, Daryl. Now drop it." Conrad said while turning his gaze toward the redneck. Her apology, however, meant nothing. Not even if Beth accepted it. She'd done her level best to kill the little blonde and he couldn't allow her to get near Beth again. Not when the same thing could happen. And with the worry of her being pregnant Daryl didn't think he could handle Carol being near right now.

Conrad ordered Carol down the ladder and Daryl stood in place for a moment, fighting to control his breathing as every instinct told him to stab the silver-haired woman and dump her overboard. He didn't stand much chance of getting close to her right now but Daryl couldn't allow her to get much further into town, either.

All rational thought left him as he quickly dropped down the ladder, barely paying attention to where his feet landed. Rosie rushed over, having heard Daryl's shouts. "The hell's goin' on?" The peppy red-head asked, concern written in her pale features.

Daryl's plan had been to get his crossbow back and let loose a bolt into the back of Carol's head but Rosie's timing couldn't have been more perfect. Not only did the woman always carry her own crossbow but she kept a fully loaded revolver in her waistband in case of emergencies. Without hesitation or apology he reached behind the girl and ripped the gun from her jeans, hearing the soft gasp she emitted at his close proximity and easily ignoring it.

"Carol!" He shouted, drawing the woman's attention toward him. "Don't you move." He commanded, keeping his sight set firmly on her.

The elder woman merely smirked and canted her head to one side. "You really gonna pull that trigger, Daryl?"

"Just give me a reason." He snapped, recalling the words they'd exchanged on the rooftop so many months ago. In his peripheral vision he spotted more people showing up, probably due to his and Conrad's shouting on the wall.

"Daryl! Put that gun down, now!" The ex-marine called, shifting to block Daryl's view of the woman by standing in front of her. "Don't do it, boy. There's no killing inside these walls."

From the corner of his eye he spotted a familiar flash of pale yellow as Beth lurched into view. He glanced toward her for a split second to see her staring toward Carol with wide eyes before he quickly looked back to Conrad. The head of the guard slowly stepped forward, arms raised to show he wasn't reaching for his own weapon and therefore wasn't a threat while still keeping Daryl's view partially obscured. "Come on, Daryl. Whatever she did ain't worth it. You know what happens if you pull that trigger."

This was a discussion they'd had shortly after Rick's arrival. If anyone was caught killing anyone else within the walls, the killer was sent outside the walls and never permitted back over. The less logical side of his brain was screaming that it would be worth it, to lay waste to Carol and make sure she couldn't hurt Beth again. The logical, yet quieter, part screamed that Beth needed him and right now she needed Terminus.

"Come on, Daryl. She apologized. Drop it." His free hand balled tightly into a fist at his side, fighting to keep his hold on the gun without moving his gaze from Carol's smirking face.

"Get Rick. He'll tell you! She's a killer!"

"It don't matter! Whatever she's done outside these walls is done. It's over. I know she wronged you and your girl before but that's done. Ain't no goin' back on it but you gotta let it go."

Daryl warred with himself, fighting to know which side of himself he needed to listen to. Both of them screamed about keeping Beth safe, the only problem was that one resulted in trying to do it in the wild and the other with a monster lurking around Terminus. Which was the lesser of two evils. Conrad took another step closer and in his indecision Daryl pointedly aimed the gun at the other male's heart.

The ex-marine quickly halted with his arms held up. His eyes shut tightly as he panted, trying to figure out just what he needed to do here and when they opened he had no choice but to lower the gun. Beth stood, wide eyes and terrified, in front of Conrad in order to block him from taking a shot of any kind.

As soon as he spotted the young blonde on the receiving end of the bullet he dropped his arm to his side with a snap. There was no way in hell he could point it at her. She shook her head quickly and stepped forward, her hand running down his arm until her fingers wound around the gun. "Daryl, don't. There's gotta be a better way. Don't let her win.." the blonde murmured.

"She tried to kill you." He responded and shook his head softly, carefully keeping her from pulling the gun away.

Beth shook her head again, forcing a smile onto her lips. "She can't here. You're with me. Maggie's with me, Sammi and everyone else. She can't." She whispered while gently prying his fingers away from the gun. This time he allowed her to do so and Beth quickly held it out to the side for Rosie to take back. As soon as the gun left her pale hand her arms wrapped around him.

Daryl returned the hug, staring over her shoulder at the smirking face of the dirty elder woman. "I should'a shot 'er 'fore she came over the wall." He murmured into her hair.

Beth fought off an unamused chuckle as she hugged him tightly. "Better than shooting her in here." She whispered back. The blonde only pulled herself away when a shadow was cast over her, blocking out the warm sunlight on her back. Conrad stood imposingly close, looking furious.

"I know you said she tried to kill blondie here but dammit Daryl, you pull that shit again and you're out. Not only did you draw weapon on another living person but you stole that weapon." While Daryl had a thousand things he wanted to counter it with one look to Beth silenced him. She needed to be here and if he was booted over the wall he knew that she would follow without hesitation. She had to be here.

"Ain't gonna happen again." Daryl grunted through gritted teeth. It was going against everything he wanted to do, everything he wanted to say, but he couldn't risk Beth's safety. The thought of being overwhelmed with walkers and his not knowing what the hell he was supposed to do when the time officially came was the only thing that held him back.

"Good. Now you're both gonna apologize."

"What?!" This time Daryl allowed his voice to raise in fury. "I ain't apologizin' to that bi-"

"You'll apologize and suck it up, Dixon. I ain't gonna have you at each others throats. She's just as welcome here as you." Conrad seethed as he stepped closer in order to keep his voice low. Beth squeezed Daryl's hand and nodded to him and even though he wanted to rage and scream, he nodded sharply up at the ex-marine. "You, Carol. Come 'ere." The elder woman walked over toward them, a cocky spring in her step that drove Daryl insane. "You two are gonna apologize and shake hands. That's the end of this."

Carol easily extended her hand toward Daryl. "I'm sorry for everything." She stated. Daryl stared at her hand as if it were toxic before reaching out and gripping it tighter than was necessary. To her credit, Carol didn't even flinch.

"Sorry." He spoke through his teeth.

"Good, that's done. Now," Conrad began, but Daryl quickly cut him off.

"No, it ain't. Ain't just me she needs to apologize to." He glanced pointedly down at the blonde on his side before narrowing his eyes on Carol. The woman smiled wickedly as her pale eyes danced over Beth, lingering a moment on her slightly swollen belly. With a brow arching she returned her gaze to the girls face.

"I suppose I do owe you an apology as well, don't I?" She asked and without waiting for an answer, "sorry for trying to kill you."

Beth didn't buy it for a second and when the elder woman's eyes traveled to her stomach again she shifted her arm across it. Neither Beth nor Daryl moved until Carol had walked off with Conrad. His grip on her loosened slightly before the blonde wrapped her arms tightly around his middle and pulled him close. Daryl hugged her tightly back until he felt a gentle slap on his arm. "Next time you take my gun, Dixon, I'll put an arrow in your shoulder." Rosie stated, though didn't sound as though she'd meant it.

"Sorry," he responded, sounding more as though he meant this apology than the one he'd given Carol. When the crowd began to disperse, save for those who knew he and Beth, he relaxed, holding the girl tightly. How in the hell was he going to feel okay here now? He couldn't picture feeling at ease with Beth in the same place as Carol once more. Had the woman not put a blade against Beth's throat and threatened to throw her over the side of a building he might have been able to forgive her. There was no way he could now.

Not with the way the woman had looked at Beth and her stomach with that wicked grin on her lips. Daryl was sure that a new nightmare would fill his dreams tonight.

**–**

**Reviews?**


	28. Everything Dies

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I had a reviewer tell me that Daryl's apology was completely ooc. While I partially agree, I must also state that this is a YEAR after everything had happened at the prison. This isn't really the same Daryl as in the show anymore. He is thinking of protecting Beth and nothing more. His apology was mostly just to appease Conrad and he didn't mean it at all. Just as we all know Carol doesn't truly mean hers.**

–

Once Carol had been escorted away by Conrad and the crowds had thinned out a bit, the old group began making their way toward Daryl. Everyone began talking at once, questioning he and Beth on precisely what had happened. Finally the little blonde raised her voice to be heard over the din. "Enough!" She called before letting out a slow sigh. "Enough."

Daryl squeezed her hand in gratitude as she took the lead, knowing how much he hated talking in group situations. "Look, we didn't think we had to tell you guys what happened, we assumed she wasn't going to turn up here. We figured she would have died.." the blonde instantly winced as she realized that she'd been more hoping for it. Perhaps this world was turning her a little crueler. She didn't much care for that idea, though after what Carol had nearly done to her the girl couldn't help but to be a little resentful.

"What happened?" Maggie asked softly as she stepped a little closer to her sister. Beth frowned and brushed a hand back through her dark hair as she recounted the story of everything that had happened in LaGrange so many months ago. It felt like years, yet still only felt like yesterday. She showed them the scar on her throat that had turned white with age.

Rick's frown darkened the more that Beth spoke, his gaze shifting toward Daryl's where the two held a silent conversation without words. It wasn't difficult, the two could read each other very well. The redneck shrugged at the silent question before shaking his head and glancing toward Tyreese, who was listening intently to Beth and hadn't noticed. Both shook their heads again as if to indicate that neither of them had told the large male about Carol having killed the two at the prison.

After Rick glanced toward Beth, Daryl nodded softly to tell him that he'd already told her everything, then looked at the group and shook his head to tell the man he hadn't told the rest of them. Rick sighed softly, catching everyone's attention since Beth had stopped talking. With Rick and Daryl's silent conversation neither had noticed it.

"What?" Michonne asked, turning her gaze toward the ex-cop.

Rick frowned, glancing toward Daryl once more. "Carol didn't really fall behind or anything the day I got back.." he began.

"The day the Governor attacked?" Sasha asked now, brows furrowed as she glanced between Daryl and Rick. Obviously the woman knew that whatever Rick was going to tell them Daryl already knew it.

The male nodded softly and raised a hand to brush back through his hair in slight nervousness. He flashed a quick glance toward Tyreese, wondering if things were about to go sour. "I sent her a different way, told her she couldn't come back with me."

Everyone's expressions turned toward shock, well everyone except Beth and Daryl, who already knew. "Why, dad?" Carl questioned. Of course, he'd always liked Carol, she'd helped him out before and she'd seemed like a nice lady.

"I found out she was the one who killed Karen and David."

"What?" Tyreese's low voice pitched in, his hands balling into fists at his side. While he'd come to terms with the woman's death, it still affected him at times. He'd loved her and in this crazy world love wasn't something one came across easily. It was difficult to make attachments, knowing that most people didn't live very long.

Rick nodded softly, "we were on our way to tell you when the Governor rolled up on the gates. We never got the chance. I'm sorry, Tyreese."

"Why am I only hearing about it now?" The large man asked, turning his intimidating glare between the two men.

"Well, I haven't seen you since and.."

Daryl picked up where Rick had left off, "I figured Carol was dead and that there wasn't much reason to bring it all back up."

"Wait. Carol?" Maggie found herself unable to believe it. Carol had always seemed gentle. "And then she tried to kill you?" She turned her gaze on Beth, "why?"

The little blonde shifted uncomfortably beside Daryl. While she'd already given them every reasoning she could come up with, as well as told them exactly what she could remember the woman saying on that rooftop, it still plagued her. "She's unhinged." Bob voiced now, drawing their attention. "I'm gonna guess she told you it was for the good of everyone else." He turned his gaze toward Rick who nodded softly. "She thought she was doing right.. and then being out there alone for so long? She probably lost it."

"She should have talked to the council about it." Michonne voiced with slight irritation that she, too, didn't know this sooner.

Rick sighed and shook his head now. The woman hadn't brought it up to the council, she'd simply taken it upon herself to do what she'd believed was right, what she'd believed was for the good of everyone else. It hadn't mattered anyway, people had still gotten sick, a lot of good people had died. Glenn, Sasha and Hershel had all nearly lost their lives to the virus.

Everyone fell silent, soaking up the information. Tyreese still looked to be quivering with barely controlled rage as his hands continually clenched and unclenched into tight fists. "So what do we do now?" Glenn asked, breaking the silence. His gaze danced to each in turn before Tyreese spoke up.

"Well, we can't kill her. Wouldn't make us much better."

At that Daryl flushed slightly, still feeling the coolness of the gun that had been in his hand less than twenty minutes ago. Naturally, he still itched to pull the trigger. Beth reached out to squeeze his hand gently, a faint smile tracing along her lips.

"About the only thing we can do is keep an eye on her." Michonne stated, shaking her head so that the dreads bounced around her dark shoulders.

Carl had been silent a long time while he'd watched the pale blonde. "We have to protect Beth." He stated and stared at the girl for another long moment as she looked back in shock. She hadn't expected anyone to think of 'protecting' her. Sure, she was completely uneasy about the fact that the woman who had tried to kill her being in Terminus, but she wasn't expecting someone to think of her safety. "She tried to kill her once to get to Daryl.. why wouldn't she try again?" The boy asked, now turning his attention toward the others.

Each of them looked to the blonde, who now flushed darkly when all eyes were on her pale face. "I can.. I can take care of myself." Beth stated, lifting a hand to brush a strand of hair behind her ear in nervousness.

"I agree with Carl." Maggie piped in, almost as if she hadn't heard her sister speak at all. Beth watched as each person nodded in agreement, chewing softly at her lower lip as she glanced around at them.

Michonne smiled down at the girl. "That settles it, then. Sorry, Beth, but you don't go anywhere alone as long as Carol is here."

"That's.. that's really not necessary." She quickly voiced and shook her head. Things were already awkward enough with being pregnant and trying to follow Sammi around, the idea of being stuck with her own personal bodyguards didn't ease anything. Sure, it helped her paranoia a little and certainly made her feel safer just knowing that all of them were willing to keep her safe, but she couldn't be watched every moment of every day. Daryl slipped his hand from hers and wound it around her waist to pull her close, his fingertips brushing across her swollen belly.

Once more, Carl spoke, smiling gently at the blonde. "Yeah, it is. Besides, we all saw the way she looked at you." He stated, glancing around at the group who nodded almost in unison.

"Kinda looked like something stalking it's prey, didn't it?" Michonne asked, then frowned faintly. "We'll make sure you and the baby are safe." The warrior promised.

After each of them offered words of comfort to the obviously uncomfortable blonde they parted ways. Michonne, Tyreese and Sasha back to guard duty, Glenn, Maggie and Carl back to the farms, and Rick back to Judith. When they were alone once more Beth wound her arms securely around his waist and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head while holding her tightly. "Let's go home.." she mumbled against his chest.

–

The rest of the day had been spent inside, laying on the floor in the living room and watching the clouds pass across the sky from the large window. After they'd eaten dinner and washed up the two had curled into bed. Daryl was completely and utterly exhausted from only a couple hours of sleep that morning. As usual, he fought to keep himself awake until Beth was snoring quietly against his chest. He wasn't sure why it was so difficult to fall asleep while she was awake, it almost always had been.

After a couple of hours the girl had rolled away from him to try and cool herself off, the heat of the summer night and her pregnancy causing her to be just a little too warm. With a grunt in his sleep Daryl rolled onto his side, facing away from her.

"_Come on, Daryl."_ He heard the voice and shifted slightly, his arm raising to cover his ear and most of his face without waking. _"You'll never find her."_ The voice murmured again in his dream.

_Nothing about the dream was pleasant, nothing screamed joy. From the moment it began it had been terror. He'd been running through a fog, searching for Beth. He called for her, screamed for her, searched everywhere he could see through the dense fog and still there was nothing. At least not until the silver-haired woman stepped into view._

"_Where's Beth?" He demanded, raising the crossbow that he'd only just now realized was in his hand._

_Carol laughed quietly, the sound echoing around him in the fog as if she were everywhere. "I don't have her." The grin that had formed on her lips was a wicked one, almost like she were mocking him._

"_Bullshit! Where is she!?"He demanded, feeling the panic begin to build._

"_You know, I'm really not sure. This fog has me all turned around.." The woman's voice still held laughter. Daryl had never really seen Carol as a cruel person. Even after everything had happened between she and Beth on that rooftop in LaGrange he'd simply assumed her crazy._

"_Tell me!" The crossbow was aimed square at the woman's head._

"_Come on, Daryl." She waved him closer, still smiling that insane smile._

_Daryl felt his breath hitch as he gazed around the fog, hoping to hear anything that would point him in the right direction. He was praying that he would see something, hear something, anything that would tell him where he needed to run to get to the blonde. "I swear on everythin'.."_

"_What? You'll shoot me? Come on, Daryl, we've been through this. You can't." She said and shook her head softly. "Besides, kill me and you'll never find her."_

_He grunted as the bow shook slightly in his hands. She was right, if he took her down there was little to no chance he'd find Beth in these woods in this unyielding fog in the dead of night. "What do you want?!" He asked now, feeling his composure slip._

"_I want you to admit it."_

"_What?" What in the world had her insane mind concocted._

_Again, Carol smiled cruelly as she stared back at him. "Admit that you love me."_

_He scoffed and shook his head. "I ain't never loved you." Daryl told her bluntly._

_The smile vanished, a hardened expression filled her pretty features. "You're a liar, Daryl Dixon." She snapped coldly._

"_I ain't never felt nothin' for you. Nothin'." He spat back, just as cold._

_Carol stared hard at him for a few moments in silence. An abrupt laugh echoed around him as she smirked. Her brows arched slightly. "You sure about that?" When he merely grunted a response she chuckled and shook her head. "Alright.." without another word the woman turned._

_Knowing that he couldn't navigate these woods alone to find Beth he quickly followed after Carol before she could vanish into the fog. He'd barely noticed when the trees began to thin out, leaving them within a clearing surrounding an old, very old by the look of it, cemetery. His brows knitted together in confusion as he stepped lightly along the grass, carefully avoiding the broken headstones that littered the ground. Daryl glanced around quickly as he heard the soft groans of a nearby walker, then another, and another. He couldn't see a single one through the dense fog, however._

_He could see perhaps five feet in any direction, if even that. He hesitated a moment when Carol came to a stop. The woman stood still for a few moments before turning her gaze back onto his face. That wicked smile still tugging at her full lips. "Where is she?" He asked now, keeping his voice low so as not to call the walkers toward them._

_Unfortunately, one was closer than he'd realized and at the sound of his voice a snarl sounded in the darkness, his gaze instantly turning around to make sure it wasn't close by. It sounded as though it were right on the brink of his vision. "She's here.. Find her." Carol stated, the sound antagonizing the nearby walker even more._

_Before he had the chance to act the woman laughed harshly and vanished into the fog. He felt his breathing hitch even further as he listened to the snarls of the walker so close. Gripping the crossbow tightly within his hands he took a step forward, still keeping an eye on his back in case one of the walkers he'd heard drew too close._

"_Beth?" He whispered loudly, his own voice echoing back to him. In response he heard the clank of metal on metal followed by the snarl of a walker. It only took a moment to connect the sound with a mental image. The clank was chains and heavy ones by the sound of it. Sucking in a sharp breath he plunged through the fog toward where he'd believed the sound had come from._

_Daryl had barely made it seven feet before he was greeted with the walker he'd heard snapping and growling at the sound of his voice. The sight of the walker caused him to freeze in place._

_It was a girl, barely turned with long flowing blonde hair and pretty blue eyes. Her pale shirt was stained red from the blood that had flowed out of the wound across her throat. His gaze dropped just enough to spot the chains around her wrists, binding her to one of the few taller headstones before seeing the swell in her stomach. It hung slightly over the waistband of her pants and jutted out from under her shirt. It took him a moment to realize that the walker was Beth._

As soon as he did the male sat bolt upright in bed, fighting off the scream that threatened to tear from his throat. He sucked in sharp breaths, trying to quell the panic that had risen within due to the nightmare as he looked toward the sleeping blonde. Out of terror he quickly reached over and touched her throat, feeling the smooth unbroken skin beneath his fingertips, then gently pressed his fingers against the side of her neck to feel the pulse that beat there.

Breathing a deep sigh of relief he dropped back onto the pillows, panting hard. It wasn't the first nightmare he'd had, but it was certainly the more terrifying of them.

**–**

**Reviews? This chapter was a little difficult to write, only because I had the dialogue of so many characters at once. Normally it's two or three at a time, this time I sort of threw everyone together. I hope that everything made sense and didn't seem like a jumbled mess.**


	29. I Ain't A Judas

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note:**

–

A sigh fell from her lips as she glanced over to the warrior woman. It'd been two days since Carol's arrival and Beth was beginning to grow weary of her constant shadow. To the best of her knowledge the only one who seemed happy about Carol's appearance withing Terminus was Lizzie, even Mika had seemed semi hesitant. Of course, the younger girl also loved Carol beyond a shadow of a doubt so it didn't take long for her to warm up to the woman once more.

Beth hadn't even run across Carol, save for the day of her arrival. Of course, it probably helped that she had a bodyguard at all times. When it was Daryl she didn't mind it so much, but when anyone else began following her around it could become quite irritating. So far Maggie had tailed her, Glenn had tailed her and Tyreese had even followed her around this morning. It was now Michonne's turn. How the group had worked out a schedule for it, she wasn't sure, but it seemed as though they merely switched places without a word.

One minute Tyreese had been walking behind her and the next she knew he was gone and Michonne stood in his place. At least Michonne was more likely to talk to her. Tyreese had simply followed her around in a bad mood. While she knew she should be with Sammi, learning something, Beth wanted to check on others, see how things were going. Perhaps there was a small part of her that wanted to run across Carol, if only to show the woman that she couldn't get to her.

Everything seemed to be running smoothly. The farm was quiet, a few people here and there seemed to be pulling weeds but for the most part it appeared empty. The windmill spun slowly in the slight breeze that danced through the air. There wasn't much work to be done within. Beth briefly pondered baking bread, if they had the wheat for it that is. A soft sigh fell from her lips as she rubbed one hand across her stomach.

"You alright?" Michonne asked, startling the girl from her day dream of fresh baked, warm bread with melting butter on top.

Beth quickly nodded and smile. "I miss biscuits." She voiced.

The woman's brows furrowed slightly as a smile began on her lips. "Biscuits?"

"Mm," she hummed with a nod of her head. "Right out of the oven, covered in butter." Michonne simply smiled at her. The warrior was probably attributing it to a pregnancy craving, Beth frowned. The 'what I miss' game was much more interesting with Daryl. The two were silent as they walked along toward the production of the tunnel. "Michonne?" She asked now, shifting her gaze toward the taller woman. Much like Daryl used to do, she nodded and grunted quietly to show she was listening while her gaze danced around. "What did you do.. before all this?" Beth had wondered about it for a long time.

It didn't help that, like Daryl, Michonne was very secretive of her past. She played so many things close to the vest, worried about letting people in. In many ways Michonne and Daryl were alike. The woman didn't answer right away, opting for a little silence as she looked around. Beth considered pestering her but quickly assumed that if she were patient, as she had had to be with Daryl, she might gain some answers. After close to three minutes the woman spoke. "I dealt with antiquities. Things that were rare and beautiful. Typically something in art. I found things for museums and galleries. Made quite a bit of money in it, too."

Beth couldn't help but to grin at this information. She would have assumed that Michonne was a secret agent or something. "So, how did you learn to use the sword?" She asked now.

The warrior laughed softly and reached back to touch the handle of her Katana. Her shoulders shrugged up briefly as she recounted the moment she'd picked it up. "I actually didn't have a clue as to how to use it. Everything sort of fell and I was supposed to be delivering it to a collector in Maine.. I had it, I used it. Didn't take much practice to learn how to swing something sharp."

The two fell silent for a moment, Beth recalling when she'd first picked up a gun, a knife, the crossbow. Each had felt so heavy in her thin hands but after enough practice she was skilled with all of them. No where near as much as some of those around her but enough to keep herself safe for a short time. Beth knew that she couldn't survive alone. Daryl, Rick, Michonne and Carol could. Maggie had told her that if it weren't for Sasha and Bob she never would have made it to Terminus.

Pushing thoughts of being alone from her head, the blonde sighed quietly as they closed in on the tunnel. All the dirt that they'd dug up to form the tunnel was being piled beside the farm, Beth still wasn't sure of it's purpose but assumed that someone would have a good idea for it at some point. A group of four men that she recognized as Albert (short and thin, mid thirties, balding but with black hair and dark blue eyes), Calvin (tall and broad shouldered with dark skin, black hair and dark eyes), Jordan (medium height and no real build to speak of, blonde hair and green eyes) and Stefan (tall with olive skin and dark hair) were nailing and bolting logs together. She assumed it would be used as a bit of a trap door to keep the walkers out.

She'd met each of them while working with Sammi, the Hispanic woman tended to walk around town just to check on people throughout the day. She was generally concerned with everyone around her and Beth was certain that was one of the main reasons she connected so well with her. "How's it going?" She asked the group of men.

Jordan looked up and offered a smile to the women. "A'ight, I guess. Should have it done by tomorrow." The man said, his accent reminding Beth of the ones she'd heard on television from Brooklyn. She'd never really asked most people what they had been like before all of this, Beth preferred to stick close to those she knew.

After a short conversation with the men she and Michonne moved along. "Should probably get you to Sammi." The elder woman stated as they walked. The blonde nodded in agreement and rubbed at her stomach once more when the baby began tossing and turning inside her, sending little flutters and cramps through her at the same time. A frown tugged her lips before looking away from her stomach when Michonne's hand clamped down on her shoulder.

The warrior woman gently pulled Beth away from the wall and slightly behind her, her dark eyes focused upward. The girl's gaze snapped toward the top of the wall where Carol stood with her back to them. When they were out of earshot Beth felt herself let go. "Conrad put her on guard duty!? He seriously put a crossbow and gun into her hands?!" She raged in a whisper.

Michonne frowned and glanced back, noting that the silver-haired woman he still not noticed them or she was appearing not to anyway. "I didn't know." Of course, she was now planning a talk with the man. She had to wonder if Daryl knew, he'd worked the wall yesterday and was currently on the wall now. He had to know. Without giving the girl time to finish her angry tirade the warrior quickly led her to the doctors quarters. "Sammi?" She called as they opened the door.

"We're back here." They heard the woman's voice behind the low counter. Protectively Michonne stepped in front of the blonde as she walked slowly toward the back. Moments later and Carl's head popped up, grinning broadly.

"Beth, come on." He waved her over, still grinning as he disappeared from view. Curiosity got the better of both women as they walked around the counter to find Carl and Sammi playing a game of Uno. "You're in next deal, Beth. Michonne, want to play?" He asked, glancing up toward the dark-skinned woman. "Bet you a Snickers I'll beat you."

Michonne's love of chocolate intrigued her but she knew there were more pressing matters. "Maybe later, kid." She responded and winked down at him.

Beth had never seen the woman smile as much as she did around Carl and Rick, she couldn't help but to wonder if there were something between the two older people. If there were, they both kept it very secretive. Beth settled carefully onto the floor beside Sammi, watching the two play back and forth.

"I'm kicking Sammi's butt.." Carl claimed with a grin as he slapped down a Draw Four.

"Oh, two games." Sammi stated and smiled while shaking her head.

Carl turned his dark eyes toward Beth and snickered. He lowered his voice to a whisper, "yeah, out of three." Beth couldn't help but to laugh softly while leaning back and watching the two play.

–

Daryl let out a low sigh as he leaned back on the post attached to his platform, his dark eyes surveying the land around them. It'd been quiet today, more so than it had been in weeks. There wasn't a walker or even a deer on the horizon. Once he'd thought he'd seen something move in the tall grass but upon careful scrutiny it had turned out to be little more than a car, buried beneath the ever growing grass. It'd been easier at the start of all this, to see something coming across a flat expanse of land. Now with the over grown grass and fields it was particularly difficult to tell if there were a walker or just a piece of garbage.

A hand raised to rake back through his dark hair before turning his gaze to his left. Down the wall a little way he spotted Conrad, slowly making his rounds and checking on everyone, beside Rosie. The girl was always easily told by the mess of red curls that surrounded her head. Even when she pulled them back they formed a ball behind her head. Daryl was reminded of when Sasha would pull hers back.

Speaking of the slim woman, she was down the wall on the other side of Rosie, holding a standard bow in her hand. She wasn't the best shot, but she was getting better and that was what really mattered. He couldn't tell who was on Sasha's other side so pulled his gaze away and looked to the right. Tyreese had come on a couple of hours before. While the man was virtually useless with long range weapons he was a brute and a force to be reckoned with when it came to melee. Conrad had confided before that he'd been hesitant about allowing Tyreese on the wall, typically favoring anyone who could shoot something, but the large man looked as though he could handle just about anything.

Daryl wasn't about to disagree. On the other side of the large black male he saw Gavin. The man had his arms crossed over his chest, bow over his shoulder, while he watched the land. Overall it was a relatively boring day. Nothing interesting seemed to be happening and Daryl couldn't say he minded. Especially when he wasn't really at his best. He'd had the nightmare again last night..three nights in a row, the same horrid dream. It was keeping him from sleeping. While he hadn't seen Carol since her arrival he knew what the woman was up to.

Daryl wasn't all that close with anyone in Terminus but Maggie was loved by everyone. With only a couple of questions to the right people she knew everything that Carol was doing and when it was being done. She gladly accepted the task of keeping him informed.

So when the hushed voice spoke, and nearly startled him off the podium, he wasn't surprised by the information. "Conrad's allowed Carol in the guard?" Michonne asked, still standing on the ladder.

Daryl nodded softly, shifting his gaze over toward the woman. "Maggie told me this mornin'. She was s'posed to find you all, too." He told her with a low sigh.

"I haven't seen her, I've been with Beth."

Daryl stifled a yawn behind his hand as he readjusted his position. He glanced out toward the fields once more to check for walkers before turning back toward the pretty woman at his side. "How's she doin'?" He asked.

Michonne shook her head, resting her arms against the top of the ladder and laying her head on them so she didn't have to move. "Seems fine. Little worried and stressed, but that's to be expected with everything."

"Yeah.." he grunted and frowned, turning his gaze down the wall. He'd been searching to see if he could spot Carol, but Conrad must have been smart enough to keep them separated. Good thing too, because Daryl wasn't sure he could keep his trigger happy finger from firing off a bolt or two. "Been thinkin'," he began, shifting to look at the woman a little more closely while lowering his voice. Neither of them needed someone else to hear this conversation. It could turn things really ugly really fast.

"About?" Michonne prompted, arching her brows slightly. She shifted herself a little higher on the ladder to be closer to him as he spoke.

Daryl frowned, contemplating what he was about to say. It worried him that he could think like this about another person but at the same time with everything that Carol had done he couldn't find it within himself to feel too sorry. "A way to get rid've 'er."

The woman's brows nearly vanished into her hairline as she turned her gaze around, making sure no one was remotely nearby. "You'd get kicked out!" She whispered harshly. Michonne looked worried and curious all at once.

A tiny smirk formed on the rednecks lips as he looked back to her. For a short time he said nothing, though the warrior didn't seem to be catching on. She simply assumed he was crazy and wanted to get kicked out. "I only get the boot if it happens in Terminus." He clarified.

Michonne blinked in confusion, glancing around a moment before recognition hit. "Carol needs to go on a run."

Again, Daryl smiled and nodded once. "Exactly. One she doesn't come back from."

Michonne frowned softly as she thought about it. The run would mean that either she, Daryl, Tyreese or Rick would need to go because they would need to be the ones to do it. Daryl wasn't able to leave thanks to Beth's pleading. Besides, she doubted that Conrad would allow Carol and Daryl on a run together this soon anyway. Rick was still having a bit of difficulty walking and if it came down to it ran the risk of being overwhelmed by walkers and/or Carol. Tyreese was fueled with rage and while that could get the job done it could also expose them.

If this were to be done it would need done in secret. No one could know. Carol would just be another person lost to the walkers. It would require planning and talking to certain people. Only certain people could even be on the run otherwise it could compromise everything. "I'll figure out when Conrad is sending out the next group. Maybe he can talk Carol into going."

The warrior began to descend the ladder but Daryl's hand shot out to grip her wrist. "He can't know you want her to go." He voiced quietly.

Michonne smiled cockily, "trust me. He won't know that I had anything to do with it." Again, she'd begun making her way down but stopped herself. Her dark eyes danced over Daryl's face for a moment, then she spoke in a low voice. "We need to talk to Rick about this."

Daryl nodded softly in agreement and couldn't help but to be glad that Michonne was on his side of this. She was the perfect ally. Michonne was smart and strong. She could easily take out a group of walkers without aide and she was one of the most loyal people he'd ever met. The warrior woman was protective and witty and Daryl honestly didn't know how the whole group had survived so long without her.

While she was a perfect ally, Michonne could be a menacing enemy. He'd learned that through her talks of the Governor. How desperately the woman had wanted him dead and she would have gone to any lengths to do it. Of course, a good part of that was because the woman had killed Andrea and everyone knew just how close Michonne and Andrea had been. Now the woman was being protective. And to protect anyone from someone like Carol, usually extreme measures were meant.

Daryl shook his head as he watched the woman walk away from the wall, making it look as though she'd just come to check in rather than plot other humans demise. He had to wonder how thinking it through with Michonne like that made him any better than Carol. He was still planning another persons death, he was still thinking of ways to do it and he had a justification. Was his reasoning so different from Carol's? She'd tried to kill Beth because she loved him. He was now thinking of killing Carol because he loved Beth.

How was that much different? Sure, there was a baby in the mix on his side but did that really make as big of a difference. His motives were simple: Protect Beth and the baby. Revenge for nearly tearing his world apart. Protect his sanity. Daryl knew that if Beth was ripped away from him his sanity would easily follow. Never before had a woman taken complete control of his actions before. Never before had he really had to think of someone else when he made a choice.

Now, it was his every thought. Every time there was a decision to be made, Daryl had to consider how it would affect Beth. It was ridiculous, really. A sigh slipped out as he looked back over the fields while leaning back against the pole, fighting not to drift off to sleep under the heat of the summer sun and the exhaustion from not sleeping much lately.

**–**

**Reviews?**


	30. Domestic Violence

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note:**

–

_It was dark and cold. The fog took over everything in sight. Carol stood in front of him, smirking cockily. He couldn't remember following her through the woods and into the cemetery but something told him that it had happened again. Daryl knew that it was a dream, he knew that any moment he would see Beth, rotting. Every night that the dream occurred she appeared to have rotted more and more. She was slowly becoming unrecognizable and Daryl was doing all that he could to wake himself before he could see the blonde._

_The dream always held him in place, though. Unrelenting in it's assault of his mind. It was despicable, to know that one was dreaming, to know that everything around was fake and still not be able to awaken himself._

_Things changed, though, when the silver-haired woman turned toward him. "Where is she?" He spoke and this time didn't hear the rattle of chains nor the groan of the walkers that he knew were nearby. Out of sheer habit he twisted in place to look around, making sure nothing was closing in on him._

"_I told you, I don't have her." Carol's voice echoed innocently to him through the fog._

_Daryl scowled when he looked back to the woman. "No, but you know where she is." He spat in anger._

"_I do not." She replied, sounding just as innocent as before. Naturally the redneck didn't buy it. Her act was unconvincing now that he knew what sort of person lay under the act. _

"_Tell me where she is!" He stated in irritation, drawing himself closer to the woman. He left a small amount of space between them, making it difficult for her to attempt at grabbing the crossbow from his grip that was now aimed at her chest._

_Carol let a slow sigh fall from her lips as she looked toward Daryl. The woman was silent a moment, long enough for Daryl's irritation to grow. "She's where she always is. Don't you know?"_

"_Whatchu mean?" Daryl asked now. Instead of Carol responding the snap and snarl of a walker drew his gaze to the left. 'Wake up, Daryl, wake up', he commanded mentally, hoping to snap himself out of it before he'd see her again. His eyes closed tightly, focusing on nothing but waking. 'Wake up, wake up, wake up,' he repeated the mantra over and over again in a whisper as the snarling grew louder. _

_When his eyes flew open it was to the same sight that he'd seen every night. Beth. With blood oozing down her chest from the gaping wound on her throat, chains bound her wrists and held her securely against a tall headstone. Her blonde hair, stained with dirt and blood, hung loosely over her thin shoulders. The swell in her belly evident. She snarled as she jerked at the chains in order to get to him. He felt his breathing hitch as his knees buckled._

Just before he hit the ground Daryl sat upright, panting heavily. Tears burned his eyes as he shifted to quickly check over the blonde. Unlike every other night when he felt for the unmarked skin of her throat and the pulse that beat there, the girl shifted in her sleep. Normally she just dreamed on, too tired from her days activities. Not tonight.

Instead she rolled to face him, brows furrowing sleepily as she saw the panic in his face. "Daryl?" She murmured, her voice still thick with sleep. Her pale hand extended to push the strands of dark hair from his face. "Wha's wrong?" The girl's tired brain urged her back to sleep, but the tears that were steadily flowing down his cheeks snapped her wide awake in a matter of seconds. "Daryl?! What happened?" Her hands held his cheeks to angle his face toward hers.

He shook his head and quickly wound his arms around her waist to drag her slender frame closer. "Daryl, please. You're scaring me.. what happened?" She asked while trying to pull back enough to look at him. He wasn't allowing it, though and merely buried his face into her hair and held tightly to her while tears tracked down his cheeks to stain them. Beth assumed that one way or another she would get the information, so for the moment she fell silent and simply held him.

It wasn't often Daryl cried, and never over anything trivial. The last time she'd seen him cry was during their talk of his worries and concerns. Sure, she could understand the tears then. She just couldn't help him with whatever it was that was upsetting him so much unless he told her what was going on now.

When he'd finally calmed himself, the words were murmured into her hair. "It was a nightmare.." he told her.

The blonde nodded, knowing that she had had her fair share of them over the last two years. Ever since this had all started she'd had nightmares. Most nights they weren't too harmful and others she'd woken a sobbing, quivering mess. A few of those times Daryl had comforted her. Her thin fingers combed through his thick hair tenderly. "About what?" She asked soothingly.

"You.." he breathed, keeping his hold on her. The girl was silent and after a moment he continued, "Carol had you.. an' I chased 'er down an' couldn't find ya an' then there ya were chained up in a graveyard.. you'd turned an'.." his breath caught as his eyes squeezed shut. Daryl felt as though he sounded like a child, begging to curl up into his parents bed because he'd had a nightmare about some monster in his closet. Of course, that wasn't the case at all but it didn't make him feel any less silly. Even with that feeling he was still utterly terrified.

Her fingers continued to comb through his hair soothingly, knowing how those dreams could be. She'd had several about Carol, though they had been closer to the time they'd left LaGrange. Strangely, she really didn't put too much thought into her now. While she was worried about Carol, she also knew just how many people were close by to keep her safe. It would be difficult for Carol to get through a group of people to get to her. "And what?" She prompted as she pulled back enough to look at him.

Daryl's face contorted in pain when his mouth opened for speech. Unable to get the words out his fingers dropped to her stomach, gently resting his hand against the small pouch there. Understanding washed over the girls features and she sighed quietly. "She's not getting near me.. or our baby. I won't let her, no one will." Her thin fingers wiped at his face, brushing the tears away.

"Beth.. I.." Daryl hesitated, glancing down at his hand still on her stomach. The girl shifted to lay them back down, keeping her arms tenderly around his shoulders and his around her waist. His fingers splayed across the swell in her belly as another little flutter danced through her. Again, he didn't feel it, the motion too subtle yet. She combed her fingers through the hair at the back of his head, waiting patiently for him to speak again.

He sighed heavily, unable to put it all into words. "I ain't never felt nothin' for nobody like you." He told her, his eyes locked against hers. The blonde had heard this before from him. Months ago. Back when he'd first told her he loved her. It looked as though he were going to tell her something more, however, so the girl kept herself silent. He took in a shaking breath while continuing to stare at her, the intensity behind it causing Beth's cheeks to flare red. "I don' think I'd ever be the same if somethin' happened to you." He told her now.

Again, this wasn't something completely new to the blonde, but it didn't stop the tears from filling her pale eyes. "I'm not going anywhere." She whispered the promise while scooting closer to him so that she could nuzzle her nose against his.

"We don' know that, Beth. I can't make it without you." He confided and pressed his lips against hers. The blonde melted against him as she always did, gently knotting her hands into his hair as she dragged his face closer to kiss him harder.

When she finally pulled away to catch her breath the girl nodded and shook her head. "Like I told you before, Daryl, you'll be the last man standing after all of this."

The brunette shook his head in her hands, "not without you. Before you I would'a agreed with that but not now. I can't."

Beth pulled him close and kissed him again, allowing her lips to linger on his for as long as she could. When his sniffles had ended she disentangled herself from him enough to look him in the eye. He met her gaze and forced a quick smile as she continued to brush her fingers back through his hair. "I love you, Beth." He murmured quietly.

The blonde smiled gently as she looked back to him, "I love you, too." She whispered while feeling the little flutter in her stomach that she was getting far too accustomed to. If this were a different world then Beth would have absolutely loved being pregnant and wanted the feeling to never end, but it was far too dangerous in this world.

Her arms wound around him, dragging him to her chest as she played with his hair. Daryl shifted a little in her hold to press his ear against the swell of her belly his fingertips gently tracing the curve on the underside until unconsciousness reclaimed his mind. Beth stayed awake for a little longer, just to wait until she heard his soft snores, it wasn't much longer before she dozed back off as well.

–

He awoke very differently today. With the sunlight streaming into his face and a tap against his cheek. Daryl frowned softly, remembering he and Beth's midnight conversation. A yawn began to stretch his lips before reality struck. The cheek he'd felt the tapping against was the one pressed against her belly. Eyes wide he shifted his gaze up toward the blonde, preparing to awaken her.

The girl grinned back, having already been awake. "I was wondering if you'd notice." She told him.

He gasped softly while putting his face back against her stomach. It was still for several moments before he felt it again. This time he laughed quietly. "God, baby's really movin', huh?" The girl nodded while lightly chewing at her thumbnail, a wide grin tracing it's way onto her face.

Daryl laid the opposite cheek against her stomach so that he could look up at her. Unfortunately, by this time the baby had settled and he couldn't feel the little movements anymore. A frown began etching itself onto his lips and Beth couldn't help but to giggle quietly. "He'll move again soon." She promised, then reached out a hand to comb back through his hair.

"Yer pretty sure it's a boy, huh?"

The girl nodded sharply and laughed, "I don't think the world could handle a female version of you." Her index finger gently prodded the tip of his nose before gently touching his cheek. "What should we name it?" Beth asked now. When Daryl shook his head she frowned, "come on, you've got to have some good idea." Again, his head shook slightly causing her to sigh in slight exasperation. "Okay, what's a boy name you like?"

"Anythin' but Daryl, Merle and William is good."

Beth sighed and frowned again, her lips pursing slightly. "Very helpful input, Dixon." When he grinned up at her the girl rolled her eyes. "Alright, what about girl names?"

Daryl was silent for a long moment as he actually pondered this time around. After a moment he simply shrugged one shoulder and grunted out an 'iunno'. Beth rolled her eyes again, "really? You've got nothing?"

"Beth. I called Judith 'Lil Ass Kicker'. The only dog I ever had was an old mutt I named 'Woof'." This information caused the blonde to snicker, glancing away from him for a moment as she attempted to regain her composure. "It ain't funny." He commented, seeing the giggles that were forming within the girl.

The girl swallowed hard and arranged her expression to look him straight in the eye. "Woof?" Her voice held the barely controlled laughter.

He rolled his eyes up and gently pushed at her arm. "Shut up." Daryl countered and fought not to laugh.

"Just tell me something. Tell me you were a little kid when you named the dog?" She asked, fighting not to laugh even harder.

Daryl glanced away from her, a smirk lingering around the corners of his mouth. After a long moments silence he shook his head. "I was twenty." Instantly the girl began laughing loudly and before Daryl could stop himself he was chuckling with her.

"Maybe you shouldn't be allowed to name him." She stated between the giggles. "I wouldn't let you name our goldfish," she teased now.

"Wait, we can have a goldfish?" He asked seriously, his expression instantly shifting away from the laughter that had been there a moment before. "We can have a goldfish?" His tone held more excitement than she believed she'd heard from him in months. For a moment she had to question his sanity while staring hard at him, but then he laughed loudly and shook his head. Daryl pushed himself up, then leaned over to capture her lips in a gentle kiss.

Beth laughed quietly and swatted at his shoulder before wrapping her arms around him and drawing him even closer. When a knock sounded at the door she sighed and broke away from him, a faint pout etched against her lips. "Come in.." she called, though sounded as though she wished she could bolt the door and block whomever it was out. The way he looked at her said that he wished the same.

Michonne cautiously peered around the door until her gaze landed on Daryl, half sprawled across the girls stomach. She rolled her eyes with a faint smirk on the edges of her lips. "Rick needs to talk to us." She stated.

Beth glanced at Daryl a moment before turning back to the woman, wondering what it was about. "Alright, we'll be.."

Michonne cut her off by shaking her head sharply. "Just me and Daryl." She stared pointedly at the male before looking back to Beth, "Sammi's out here for you, though."

When the warrior ducked her head back out the door Daryl sighed. "I gotta go."

"What's going on?"

"Not now, I'll explain later. Jus' spend some time with Sammi." He stated, then leaned up to kiss her forehead before quickly crawling off the bed. Daryl laced his boots up faster than she'd ever seen before and grabbed his crossbow off the floor. With a quick smile to her he vanished out the door.

–

Fifteen minutes later and he and Michonne stood in Rick's small apartment. Judith crawled across the floor while Tyreese leaned back against the wall. Carl was off tending the fields which gave them the perfect opportunity to talk. When the door was closed behind Michonne the ex-cop took the moment to listen for any sounds of his neighbors, not wanting any chance of someone eavesdropping. "Alright, Michonne told me you're idea." He said quietly while settling back onto the half broken couch and raising his stiff leg onto the table. Most of the time it didn't seem to bother him though it appeared to be acting up at the moment.

Daryl glanced quickly toward Tyreese before grunting. "And? Whatchu think?"

A sigh fell from Rick's lips as he shook his head. "Honestly? I don't much like it. I don't like the idea of someone going on this run with the sole purpose of killing her." He glanced toward Tyreese as well, who seemed ready to put his opinion out. The male raised a hand to hold him off before looking back to Daryl, "but I also don't like the idea of her strutting around here, either."

"I overheard her talking to Jaime yesterday. He was askin' why she'd tried to off Beth before. Carol said that it was for the good of everyone. That she's never killed someone unless it would benefit a lot of people." Tyreese voiced.

"Conrad said the next run should be heading out tomorrow, day after at the latest. He's just finishing mapping it out with Gavin and Cole. We've still got a good chance of getting Carol to go." Michonne interjected.

"I'm going on that run." Tyreese said now, almost as if he dared anyone to try and stop him.

Rick sighed and rubbed at his face. He knew that it was virtually pointless to argue, especially since he did agree that something needed to be done about the elder woman. He didn't like the idea of simply killing her but he also knew that she couldn't remain here in Terminus. It wasn't safe for other people. After all, when would Carol deem something else to be in the 'good of everyone' and kill someone? No. She needed to be away and the only way to do that was to lose her on a run.

"Alright. Anyone have a plan for getting her on a run?"

Michonne glanced toward Daryl before smirking broadly. "I think I've already set that in motion." Each of the men looked at her with furrowed brows, waiting for her to continue. Obviously the woman wanted a bit of a dramatic pause, though, because it took several moments before she finally spoke again. "Lizzie and Mika." Again, the men looked confused and Michonne snickered. "Daryl, how many times do the guard go through the gym where the girls are?"

"Least once a day."

"Mhm, and how often does Conrad go through there?"

"Least twice a day."

Again the woman nodded as if they should have caught on. "Lizzie and Mika are going to sing Carol's praises to Conrad. He'll get the idea that Carol's a good one to go out on the run. Rick won't be able to, I'm going to stick close with the excuse of helping Rick with Judith or Daryl with the hunting party. There's no way in Hell he'll let Daryl and Carol go together. Maggie will want to be with Beth. There's not many of us that actually go on these runs."

"And what if Gavin goes? Or Paul? Neither of them like to 'leave men behind'. It's likely you won't get away long enough to do what is needed." Rick voiced, turning his gaze toward Tyreese.

A smirk tugged his lips, "I'll make sure Sasha comes, she can distract either of them if it's needed."

The ex-cop sighed softly. There was some definite strain on his moral compass today. While he agreed that Carol needed to leave Terminus, there was another part of his brain that screamed that they could come up with a better alternative than murder. At the same time, he knew that it would be near impossible to chance Tyreese's mind. There was a chance he could change Daryl's but none that the large carpenter would excuse what Carol had done to Karen.

"Alright.. let's just be careful about this, though. We can't have Conrad or anyone else getting suspicious. Tyreese, fill in Sasha and Bob if needed. Daryl, tell Maggie and Glenn if you have to."

Both men nodded, Daryl mostly because he understood that while Rick didn't mention Beth, the male knew that this wasn't something he was going to keep from the blonde. He had to wonder what she was going to say to him about it.

**–**

**Reviews?**


	31. Chupacabra

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: This chapter will be from Sammi and Tyreese's POV with the possibility of there being a future one in either of their perspective as well. Thanks to Guest:Chuck for the idea. This is a side note, I know that a lot of readers (like myself) enjoy having something physical to compare a character to. Imagine Sammi as Michelle Rodriguez.**

–

She had heard a lot of stories from the prison group, as Beth usually called them, and while she believed all to be true there were just some things that seemed relatively impossible. A hand raised to brush back through the black hair as she worked on braiding it behind her head. Cole had gone this morning with the group for the run, leaving her alone in their quarters. Tyreese, Carol and Gavin were among their heavy hitters with Paul and Jada bringing up the rear. Jada wasn't one that Sammi would chosen to go out on a run, she was a thin girl without much in the way of muscle, though she did have considerable skill when it came to the machete that she carried everywhere.

At least Sammi was willing to give her that much credit. While the doctor didn't want to believe that the newcomer, Carol, was really as threatening to their community as Beth made her out to be, it was difficult not to believe it. She'd seen the way Carol had looked at Beth that first day here almost a week ago, the woman looked at Beth like she were a pawn in some game. It had worried Sammi to see it, honestly.

She'd become quite protective over the young blonde in the time that she'd known her. While she was fairly certain Beth could protect herself she couldn't help but to believe that the girl needed someone to watch out for her. Which was why she had been extremely grateful when her 'prison group' began tailing the girl everywhere. She'd spent the better part of the day before with Beth, going over a bit of Lamaze training to help prep the girl. Sure, it was still four months away from her delivery time, roughly, but that didn't mean that the girl couldn't get in a bit of practice.

She'd watched Daryl leave the house in a hurry after Michonne before Beth had come out of the bedroom with a slight frown. While the girl had been overjoyed that Daryl had finally felt the baby moving, she'd also been upset that he'd had to leave so quickly. Sammi couldn't say that she blamed the young girl for it. She would have been a little upset as well.

Once her dark hair was in a single braid down her back the woman pulled on her boots and laced them up. A yawn fell from her full lips as she rubbed at her face, still tired. She'd slept little the night before, thanks to Cole. While she still wished for her Jon, Cole was a semi-supplement. He at least did the job she needed him to when she was lonely, or vice versa. Every time before he went on a run he kept her up late or most of the night.

Which just meant that she was a little sluggish today. The doctor had seen off the group for the run before heading back to her quarters and getting herself more presentable for the day. As she straightened her faded gray tank top over her dark blue jeans the door burst open. A woman of about thirty five with charcoal black hair and piercing blue eyes that Sammi quickly recognized as Meg stood panting in the door way. "Sammi, come quick.. something's wrong with Paulo." The woman frowned darkly as she bolted from her cot.

Sammi grabbed the small medical bag she used anywhere but the office with only the most basic of supplies. She'd been meaning to make one for Beth, but had lacked the supplies to get it accomplished. Paulo was one who worked the farms, she remembered seeing him last night, he'd complained of having a small headache while he was working. Sammi had attributed it to nothing more than a little dehydration from working in the sun all day.

She didn't bother to speak with Meg as they ran through the street, though once they got to the three story apartment building and the woman slowed enough, Meg began speaking to her. "He started feeling a little worse last night, even though he kept drinking water. He started coughing. We figured it was just a cold, but.."

"What?" Sammi asked, brows furrowing. Meg quickly pushed open the door to she and Paulo's apartment, three others were sleeping on cots around the small room.

A frown tugged on her full lips as she stepped inside, eyes going toward Paulo. The man coughed again, loudly and into his hand. When he pulled it back from his mouth Sammi saw the clotted blood that clung there. Her first thought was Tuberculosis, especially since they couldn't vaccinate anyone for it. But then she remembered that there would have been signs long before now. It didn't come on this suddenly.

Regardless, before she stepped foot into the room she dug out a pair of sterile gloves and a medical mask, quickly pulling them both on. If there were any chance of catching something she shouldn't Sammi was going to minimize the risk. If only because there were countless others who relied on her, not the least of which was a pregnant Beth. She couldn't risk catching something and passing it on to the blonde.

Meg had rushed inside, scooting others out of the way as she drew close to Paulo. The male spoke only a little broken English, having come here from Puerto Rico shortly before the end of normality. He was roughly forty with thinning black hair and dark brown eyes. His normally tanned skin was pale, over all he looked sick. Much worse than he had merely twelve hours before. "Why didn't you get me sooner?" She asked Meg, her voice slightly muffled behind the mask as she adjusted her stethoscope in her ears and listening to the man's heart.

She murmured his stats to herself, trying to figure out how he'd gotten so bad within just a couple of hours. He'd been fine the night before. As he coughed again her eyes traveled to the others in the room. Meg, Albert, Sven and Jane were all at risk for whatever he had. A sigh fell from her lips as she glanced back to Meg when the woman responded with, "we didn't assume it was that serious until he began coughing up blood. He seemed fine, just complained about his headache. And then the coughing started.."

"Why didn't you get me as soon as he started coughing?" The Hispanic doctor asked as she looked down at Paulo. Her brows furrowed slightly, reaching out her gloved hand to touch his cheek. Blood leeked from his nose, his eyes and the corner of his mouth.

"The coughing only started a little while ago, I came to get you right away!" Meg was saying as she looked toward Albert, who slept fitfully. "I figured if he was coughing like that with blood coming out we needed to get you. Especially since Cole left this morning.. and I don't trust that.. Bob.. don't think he knows what he's–"

"HEY!" Sammi hollered, effectively silencing the woman. Her gaze snapped back to the man at her side, "Paulo?" She reached out, checking his pulse again with her fingers at his throat to find it had vanished. "Not possible.. it was just there.." she murmured to herself, checking a second time with her stethoscope. It reconfirmed that the pulse was gone. Vanished. _'How? He was just there..?'_ She wondered.

"Paulo?" Meg's voice interrupted, stepping closer.

"Get back!" Sammi snapped.

The shouting started Jane from her sleep, the petite brunette glanced around before her pale eyes landed on Paulo. She muttered something as she began to climb to her feet. "I.. I should get Conrad." The girl claimed as she began pulling on her shoes.

"Don't you walk out that door." Sammi commanded while standing up slowly and taking a step back from the body. "Every one of you has to be quarantined, just in case."

"Quarantined? You mean we might get sick?" Meg asked now, eyes wide.

Sammi shook her head. "It's just a safety precaution. Just a precaution." Her eyes didn't leave Paulo's face as she quickly dug through her bag. Her gloved fingers had barely gripped onto her scalpel when she heard it.

The low guttural groan of a walker as it became aware of it's surroundings. This wasn't the first time she'd seen someone turned and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Just as what was once Paulo began to pull itself off of the bed Sammi lurched forward and stuck the scalpel through it's left eye socket. Seconds later it became still and she ripped the surgical tool back out. Staring down at the body she swallowed hard and turned to look at Meg and Jane, both had been inching their way toward the door. After heaving a silent sigh the woman quickly tossed the sheet Paulo had been covered in over his head, dropped her things back into her bag and walked toward the door.

"What about the quarantine?" Jane asked.

Sammi quickly shook her head, "you've been exposed. I haven't. Wait here.."

"What about him?" Meg interrupted, pointing toward Paulo.

Sammi sighed and glanced away for only a moment. "I'll be back." She'd barely turned to walk away when a hoarse cough stopped her cold. As her gaze shifted back to the doorway Sven lurched upward into a sitting position, couching loudly into his hand. Sammi shifted her attention toward Albert. Without a word the woman quickly sealed herself into the apartment with them, then shoved Meg and Jane closer to the door. Sven had the same thing Paulo did, the blood was enough to let them know that much. Cautiously keeping her distance from the blonde German she stepped closer to Albert and felt for a pulse.

Sammi knew almost instantly that she didn't need to. There was blood seeping from his nose and a small amount surrounded his eyes like a bloody eyeliner. With a frustration the doctor quickly pulled her scalpel back out, then kicked the bag toward the other woman.

"There are other masks in there. Put some on, grab some gloves and go get Bob. Get Conrad. Make sure you do not take either off and they get some from my office before they get here. Understood?!" She commanded as she looked back at them. Meg nodded sharply and dug through the medical bag until she found what she and Jane needed. "And you two!" Sammi called now, interrupting them from running out of the door, "stay in my office. Don't talk to anyone else and don't touch anything!"

–

It had been over a year since Karen had died. Sure, it still affected him, he still ached over it. But the thing was, Tyreese had coped with it. It killed him to think of Karen's killer as being some stranger, a faceless person that he couldn't bring to justice but he had also dealt with it. He'd come to terms with the fact that he would never know the killer's identity, he would never know what had made Karen and David and all of those others at the Prison sick.

He'd dealt with the nightmares and told Sasha not to worry about him. Of course, she always countered with 'it's my job as a little sister'. It was his job to worry about her. Not the other way around. He'd done a pretty piss poor job of taking care of her so far. If only mama could see them now. Then again, Sasha had always bossed him around.

Ever since she was four years old and could talk properly. He remembered being only two years older and steadily turning toward sports and cars and tools like his father. None of that matter, though, because when his baby sister told him to sit down for a tea party, that's where he was. Near everything he'd done in his life had been to keep Sasha happy. She'd been relatively spoiled until their dad walked out when she was only eight. Then mama had started drinking and Tyreese had taken care of his younger sister.

Not too much had changed since then. He still did what he could to take care of her and she still told him what to do. Of course, most of her bossy skills were being used on Bob at the moment. While Tyreese liked the guy, there was still something about him that Tyreese wasn't so sure on.

He realized while sitting in the van that he was thinking on things that he really didn't need to. Right now his focus needed to be on Carol and how to take her out. His dark eyes danced around to the others in the van. Gavin was driving, the guy was pretty much a straight shot. He did everything by the book, he followed rules and had an impressive moral compass. He was smart, over all Tyreese liked the guy. Tyreese would just have to find something to distract the guy at some point so he could take Carol out.

Cole slept in the passenger seat. He was a squirrely sort of guy and also one that he would have to distract. Cole would report it back to Conrad right away. Couldn't have that. Jada sat next to him, fiddling with her machete. She was one that he was fairly certain he could convince to keep her mouth shut. Not a lot of trouble from her. Paul was much the same. He could be fed a bullshit lie to keep him off his ass or he could tell him the truth and convince him to keep quiet. Simple enough.

He leaned back into his seat, turning his gaze out the window and thinking about Karen, like he had so many other times. A smile on her lips, a sparkle in her eye as her arms wound around his neck. The smooth taste of her lips, the warmth of her skin..

Tyreese was quickly startled out of his thoughts by a voice at his side. "I'm surprised you agreed to go with me. Doesn't everyone from the prison hate me now?" Carol asked, her brows arched slightly.

He stared at her for a moment and shook his head, "nah. I ain't got anything against you. What's done is done, right?" He asked in return, forcing a smile. Naturally it was a lie and Tyreese was pretty certain he'd been convincing enough.

The woman nodded and smiled softly over at him. "You still think I'm crazy, don't you?"

His brows furrowed as he shook his head. "Nah. You said it was the heat that got you, bein' alone too long. I believe you. Bein' alone can do some pretty messed up shit to your head." He stated. While that was true and he couldn't particularly hold it against the woman for her plot against Beth's life, she'd still ended Karen's. Then there was the worry that she could do something else in Terminus. While the only ones there he really cared for were Sasha and Michonne he still didn't want to risk anything happening to anyone else.

Carol was a risk that needed to be stopped. He turned his gaze toward the window again, watching the fields flow passed. The sun was still high in the sky and by Gavin and Conrad's calculations they would make it to their destination either by the end of the night or the beginning of the morning. That left them a couple of days to search the small town for anything useful–with the hope of finding another vehicle–before hauling themselves back to Terminus with whatever supplies they'd managed to find.

Thinking of Sasha, he'd tried to get his sister to go along, tried to make sure she was with him on the run so that she could provide a distraction to the men on the run. Unfortunately Conrad believed that the group going out had enough people in it. He'd even told Tyreese that they needed Sasha on the wall since they would be down five guard just for this run. It wasn't the first time that so many had gone out, but after the two they'd lost on the last run and the three on the run before it only made sense that things were getting a little slack. They needed people to man the wall and Conrad was hesitant about letting much of anyone go. They needed the supplies, though, and Conrad knew it.

He'd talked with Daryl and Rick before they'd left that morning, coming up with several plans. While Tyreese had various ideas on how to take the woman down, there was always the chance that he wouldn't get the chance. Especially with how close Gavin tended to keep everyone. If things didn't go as planned the rest of the prison group needed to be prepared. They would have to get another shot at this at some point. Keep Beth safe, keep Terminus safe. Tyreese was going to do his part. He would do what he needed to in order to protect everyone.

While it was unwise to look forward to any sort of walker situation, Tyreese found himself hopeful. If there were walkers he could easily lose Carol with them. People were lost to walkers all the time. This would be no different. As his gaze danced back toward the woman a smile touched his lips. She seemed blissfully unaware as she stared out of her own window, enjoying the silence.

**–**

**Reviews? What's happening in Terminus? Will Tyreese be able to get rid of Carol so easily? Anything's possible, isn't it?**


	32. Infected

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: There may not be a lot of Beth/Daryl POV for a couple of chapters, or possibly just this one depending on how things work out, not sure yet. On a side note, last chapter I gave the idea of picturing Michelle Rodriguez for Sammi. Really, that was who played through my mind as I was working up her character in my head. As for Conrad, try to imagine short haired Cam Gigandet. For Rosie I imagined a super curly-haired Isla Fisher, if there's anyone else of importance I'll give you a good visual when there's a need. (or if you leave a comment in the review I can post up who I envisioned for whomever in the next chapter)**

**Also, if there is anyone who is looking for some good Bethyl fan videos check out thelazyleggings on youtube's channel. My friend has made some great ones for me because she understands my Bethyl heart. When you read this, I love you Courtney! I'm so glad you understand my obsession!**

–

Conrad rubbed tiredly at his face as he leaned back against the wall, sucking down the dregs of the worst cup of coffee he'd ever had in his life. One, it was cold, two it was that instant crap that left a nasty taste in his mouth. His nose wrinkled up slightly as he set the glass mug down at his feet. The sun was already blazing hot and he was exhausted.

He'd spent the better part of the night going over things with Gavin and making sure Carol knew the procedure for runs. Work hard, stay together as a team or in pairs. Never venture off alone. Always be prepared and grab anything and everything that might be useful to the community, not just oneself. Gavin had promised to keep an eye on the woman and Carol had promised that this wasn't the first run she had made before. Which meant there was little to worry about.

He'd seen the group off this morning as the rest of the guys finished out the tunnel. There was nothing left to it now, the logs formed the trap door, the men had constructed a pulley system so that the door could be pulled open to allow for the cars to make their way into town with whatever supplies they'd managed to conjure up during their run. He just hoped that this time they'd come up with some more canned food, perhaps some medicine. Books were always nice but sometimes it was better not to be laden with them. While he understood the need for books, he also knew that there were other things they needed more.

A sigh fell from his lips as he rubbed at his face once more in the hope of waking himself. It'd been a long night and while he was used to the lack of sleep it still took it's toll. He'd gotten used to only getting a couple of hours here and there while in the Marines and once everything fell after he'd gotten back home it hadn't gotten any better. Every couple of weeks, however, Conrad would take nearly a full day to simply rest and regain all of that lost sleep.

He'd been contemplating going back to his place and crashing out when two women came running up to him. His brows furrowed as he looked at the women in surgical masks and gloves. The only one he knew who would probably walk around like that was Sammi, and neither of these women were her. "Conrad, come quick." Meg spoke. It took him a moment to recognize the woman, the piercing blue eyes gave her away, and when he did he quickly nodded and followed behind.

He was lead to the doctors office, where Bob stood. The male was already pulling on gloves of his own and holding onto a mask. A saddened expression tugged his features as he looked at the Captain, then quickly dug out the protective measures for the man. "The hell is going on?" Conrad asked, eyes on Bob.

The man sighed and shook his head softly. "Someone's pretty sick." He replied and shrugged. The women told them where to go and both ran through the streets–attracting a fair amount of attention–toward the apartment building. They knew exactly were to go, Conrad checked on everyone in town often enough that he knew which apartment Albert and Paulo camped in. Besides, he'd been the one to set them up together.

Conrad took the lead and pushed the door open to see Sammi ripping her scalpel out of Sven's skull as the man dropped to the floor. His hand rose to grasp the mask, preparing an angry tirade. Before it had left his mouth Sammi shouted, "DON'T! For the love of GOD, Conrad, keep it on!" She snapped and shook her head in exasperation.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked, feeling his irritation grow.

Sammi frowned behind the mask and looked to the three walker bodies on the floor. Each had turned, each was dead. "I'm not sure.. Paulo complained of a headache last night. I assumed he was dehydrated since there was no other complaints. Meg came and got me about forty minutes ago because Paulo started coughing up blood. By the time I got here it was too late. Blood was leaking from his eyes, nose and mouth. And then he.. just went.

"Wasn't long after that he came back and I put him down. I was going to quarantine the lot of them when I heard coughing.. It was already too late for these two.." She murmured while turning her gaze back to Conrad's. "I don't know if whatever it is is airborne. Better not to risk it."

Conrad stepped closer to Paulo, avoiding touching him even if he did have the gloves. "Ever seen anything like this before?" He asked the woman. Sammi instantly shook her head.

"I have." Bob voiced, having stooped to examine Sven. As a doctor he was used to blood and gore. Having seen this before wasn't something that weirded him out much, though he was curious. How had the same illness gotten here? "Did any of that blood get on you?" He asked, looking toward Sammi now.

The woman quickly shook her head. "No. What is it?"

"I can't be a hundred percent sure. We had the same kind of thing pop up in the prison we were in. Had go on a long search for the right meds and then make vaccines. A lot of people got sick and a lot died." He added with a frown. While it would have been better to have Hershel here to help with getting the vaccine in order, Bob was certain he remembered it. "We need to start looking for meds now.. and get people quarantined. Anyone who shows symptoms needs kept away."

"And what's the symptoms?" Conrad asked glancing between the two doctors.

Bob sucked in a breath as he looked down at Sven again. When his gaze turned toward Sammi he sounded so professional that Conrad had to shake his head. Damn doctors. All their medical mumbo. At least he understood the basics of what they were saying. "Presents with nausea and headache, ranges into slight weakness and fatigue, sore throat, runny nose, muscle cramping, fever and syncope. A normal presentation would indicate a flu, perhaps just a small cold. We'd be inclined to prescribe rest, fluids and perhaps an anti-biotic.

Of course, can't get much anti-biotics out here so we settle for rest and fluids. None of that really matters, though, because once the coughing really starts they're done. Anemia, hypoglycemia.. they kick in pretty quick. Once they start coughing up blood hemoptysis is inevitable. Asphyxiation is usually the COD, at least we figure it is, difficult to do a proper autopsy out here."

"Okay, okay, enough. What do we do?" Conrad interrupted as he watched Sammi pale behind her mask. If it was worrying the good doctor, then he knew he needed to worry. And get his ass in gear to keep Terminus safe.

"We need to go through those emergency procedures we set up." Sammi muttered faintly. If it weren't for the information he'd just dropped on her like a bomb, Bob might have wondered if she'd caught the sickness.

Conrad frowned, "you mean the ones you and Cole set up. I don't know anything about this sort of thing."

Sammi took in a breath, feeling annoyance wash over her and replace the shock. "First thing's first we need to set up a quarantine for anyone who might have been infected. Somewhere away from others and away from the food stores. We need to check everyone who has been in direct contact with the people in this apartment in the last twenty four hours and keep an eye out for anyone presenting symptoms." She glanced toward Bob who nodded. He was glad that someone was taking the control on all of this. While he didn't mind being in the lead he much preferred to follow someone elses orders.

"And we need to know exactly what was in that vaccine, Bob. We need to whip it up quick, before other people start getting sick and dying." Sammi stated as she grabbed her medical bag from the floor.

"What about them?" Conrad asked, turning his gaze toward the dead.

Bob turned his gaze onto them for a few long moments, sighing softly under his breath. "Burn them." He stated bluntly. It was what had been done at the prison, it was what they needed to do now. "We'll need to talk to some of the people that were at the prison, they'll remember everything we did before and what we need to do now." Sasha, Rick, Maggie and Glenn would be the most helpful here. Bob desperately wished for Hershel here to give them a bit of help.

Conrad nodded and sighed inaudibly. "Alright, I'll get a couple men to come and gather 'em up. Tunnel's finished, we can actually get 'em outside to burn 'em." He stated while stepping away from the apartment. Every fiber of his being wished for a hot, soapy shower and hand sanitizer. He'd have to settle for a cold shower with minimal soap and deal with it.

"Make sure they're protected." Bob told him while leaning back on the wall outside the apartment. "I'll stay here until they get here, make sure no one goes inside."

The blonde let out a low breath, wanting to take the mask off, but wouldn't feel safe doing so until he were outside in the fresh air. "As soon as they show up you go and round up anyone that might know what's going on. Meet me in the church. Forty-five minutes." Conrad figured that was enough time to get a couple guys in there to do what needed done and grab a quick shower.

As soon as they were outside Sammi expertly pulled her bloodstained gloves off without managing to get a single drop onto herself, then pulled the mask above her head. Her hands hit her knees as she sucked in several sharp breaths of air. Only moments later she vomited on the sidewalk, breathing heavily. Conrad sighed and reached out to pat the girls back. "You okay?"

She nodded sharply and wiped at her face. "Why do I have a feeling this is only the beginning?" The Hispanic woman asked as she shifted her gaze to his face.

He shook his head in response, "I don't know. I hope to God it ain't what Stookey thinks, though."

"I've never seen something like this, Conrad. I worked in the ER for 10 years and never, never saw anything like this. Hell, I saw through Anthrax poisoning and that was hell. That was nothing to this." She stated and nodded toward the inside of the building. "All we've got is what Stookey and his group saw before. If that's what it is, that means there's a cure. Better to have a cure than something that we can't control." She told him while standing and wiping at her mouth. "Come on.. we've got work to do."

Conrad nodded and gently patted her arm before taking off the mask and gloves, handing the former back to her, then turning on heel and racing off to find someone to give Bob a hand.

–

Forty-two minutes later–Conrad detested being late for anything, punctuality was key in everything–he stood in the church, waiting for the others to arrive. He'd ran to find someone to help Bob out and after instructing they go to Sammi first to suit up, there was some hesitance. In the end he'd recruited Dean (a burnette kid who couldn't have been more than seventeen) and Logan (a brunette in his mid thirties who'd seen enough army action to know not to question a superior) to give the doctor a hand with the specific instructions to take the dead out and burn them.

He'd then gone home and taken as hot of a shower as he could manage the water with as much soap as he could allow himself. After dressing in clean clothes–his custom military garb–he walked quickly down the street to the church. Sammi was already inside, leaning back on one of the pews. Rick paced the floor near the altars where Sasha sat with her head in her hands. Michonne leaned silently against the wall beside a window staring into space while Carl stood beside her. He wondered who let the kid tag along.

"Where's Stookey?"He asked the female doctor when he drew close enough. She sighed heavily and turned her tired gaze toward his face. It seemed to take a moment or two for the question to actually register within her obviously distracted head.

Sammi gave herself a quick mental shake to bring herself back to the present. "He went to get Maggie and Glenn. Apparently Glenn and Sasha are both survivors of whatever hit their prison." She murmured with a gaze back to the woman. Sasha didn't raise her head, just continued to stare wide eyed at the floor in shock while Rick continued pacing back and forth.

Conrad stared at the dark-skinned woman for a moment or two before sitting in front of the doctor. "Give it to me straight," he murmured just barely loud enough for Sammi to hear, "how likely is it they brought it with them?" He glanced toward Sasha and Rick for emphasis.

Sammi sighed as she sat down next to him, quickly shaking her head. "I wanna say not at all. I mean, Maggie's been here since about a month after their prison fell and that's going on a year, right?" When he nodded she did too, "which means that if anyone else was sick they would have died by now. I've never seen a virus with an incubation period of more than two months, which means that these people couldn't even really be carriers of the virus."

"Layman's terms, sweetie." Conrad instructed. While he understood a good chunk of that, Sammi still wasn't really getting to the point.

A sigh fell from the woman's mouth as she brushed her hands back through her thick hair to knock anything that had escaped her braid away from her face. "It means that it's highly unlikely that it's their fault. The only one who could have brought it would be Carol, but she didn't appear sick and it's unlikely that she carried around a vaccination just in case."

"So where did it come from?" Conrad asked now, his voice low enough to only be heard by the doctor. Sammi shook her head in response. She had no idea where something like this could have come from, especially out of nowhere. She frowned softly before the muffled footsteps from behind told them that Bob was here with Maggie and Glenn.

Conrad was only mildly surprised when he turned to see that Daryl was with them, and that the little blonde was at his side. _'Well, if anyone's gonna know the score, it'd be these people,'_ he thought with a faint sigh. "Alright folks, I'm bettin' Stookey told you what happened?" He voiced while everyone moved toward Rick and Sasha to make things simpler for Conrad to speak without turning around regularly, "so we're just gonna hit the basics. People are sick and Stookey says it sounds like what you guys had outbreak in your prison. Sasha says a couple of you were even sick."

When the group nodded almost collectively he frowned. "Stookey also says you guys know how to get rid of it."

Glenn fidgeted beside Maggie, remembering the last time he'd been sick. It had nearly claimed his life and Sasha's and Hershel's. He could see the woman resting on the pews, avoiding eye contact with anyone. "We do, just gotta have the right medicine to make the vaccine." He stated. Glenn remembered Hershel, Bob and Sasha mixing something up but couldn't quite recall if he'd helped or not. He'd been so out of it by that point.

"I wrote down exactly what we'll need to make a vaccine.. I just hope we can get someone out in time to do it. Or that the group on the run can find anything."

"We always bring any medications right back here, prescription or not." He wished they could find a pharmacy that hadn't been touched yet but knew that the junkies had raided those at the onset of everything. It was possible to find some stuff in a pharmacy though Conrad didn't know how useful any of it would be. "Anything any of you can remember about this?" He asked the group now.

Beth shook her head, having been quarantined away from it all with Judith to keep the baby safe, Carl did the same. Michonne had see the damage in the bodies she'd helped to bury/burn but hadn't really seen it full on. She knew what they needed to do, though. Rick sighed glancing around at the group. "It works fast. One minute you don't know you're sick, the next you're dead. We gotta do something to protect the rest of Terminus."

"Without inciting a riot," Maggie stated while glancing up from Sasha, who still hadn't moved.

Sammi frowned and nodded. "When word gets out that people are dying it's going to get bad enough. We need to find a safe place for quarantine and start putting people inside. Keep armed guard outside in case things go bad, but we've gotta start thinking of those who can't protect themselves." She stated as her gaze landed on the pregnant woman.

Daryl shifted himself in front of the blonde as if he could easily combat away any illness that came her way. The blonde sighed and rested her head against his back.

Sasha finally looked up toward the rest of them, her gaze dancing over their faces in turn. She was worried about her brother now, more than anything else. What if the epidemic had gone out with the group on the run? How would she know if he were sick? "We need to get to work. Now." She choked, fighting the tears of worry.

Bob placed a comforting hand on his girlfriend's shoulder and sighed softly. Maggie shifted closer to Glenn as if to protect him this time around. Conrad sucked in a little breath. "Alright. You doctors get to work, I'll organize a group to go on a run and search for some medicine. There's gotta be a town in this godforsaken state that we haven't checked yet. The rest of you, you know what to look for.. gear up and start talking to people."

"Beth, go home." Sammi ordered, her eyes on the blonde. "Any of you who want to spend time with Beth have to be completely clean first. It's too risky." This time her gaze danced to everyone else. She saw the frown trace the girl's lips and knew that Beth understood she would be kept away from virtually everything. Sammi just hoped that it wouldn't be for too extended of a period.

Conrad frowned as he stepped out into the sun, wishing that the day were already over. It had been hard enough to conjure up men for the group that left this morning, this were going to be tight on security around here for a couple of weeks, especially if any of the guard were sick. He shuddered at the thought.

**–**

**Reviews?**


	33. Parting Shots

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language, Violence, Suggested Character Death**

**Authors Note: I do want to make something plain here and now: Comic and TV-show Carol, I love. Very much. I am glad she's alive and very, very glad that Tyreese has been able to forgive her in the show. But this isn't the show. This Carol is completely AU and she's become something very dark for a plot device only. So please, don't think that I hate Carol because I have villainized her here.**

–

A sigh fell from her lips as she leaned back on her pillow. Her thin fingers traced along her stomach, marveling at how she'd nearly doubled in size in just a week and a half. It seemed as though the baby moved nearly non-stop. One minute he was punching a hole in her bladder, the next he was trying to jab his head into her ribs. It was more irritating than she ever would have imagined it could be.

Especially now that it was interfering with her sleep. The girl tossed and turned and just couldn't seem to fall asleep, no matter how hard she tried. For now the little Dixon was still and quiet, she hoped it would be for a little while so that she could regain some lost sleep, though knew that she needed to feel him moving at least once an hour.

Daryl was gone more often than not, dealing with the sick. Maggie, Glenn, Sasha, Michonne and three of the guards left almost a week ago to scavenge for medicine, Tyreese's group wasn't back yet either. While she knew that it wasn't something to worry over, she couldn't help but hope that they were all okay. Daryl had told her the plan for Carol and while she'd been hesitant about planning someone's death she also couldn't stop the feeling of tranquility that washed over her.

Mostly because she knew that everyone from the prison group was doing it to protect her. Yes, they would be keeping Terminus safe as well, but she was protected.

Sammi spent most of her time working on keeping everyone safe and protected. The apartment building that Sven, Albert and Paulo had died in had become the quarantine unit.. even more so after they discovered another four people had died in various apartments over the small span of a couple days. Anyone sick had to go there.

With Rick keeping and eye on anyone who could be sick as well as running the wall Beth had taken over care of Judith. Again. Carl peeked in when he could, but spent his time in the farm to try and help keep things running with more than half of their farmers sick or dead. Five guards were sick too and though Sasha had vehemently argued it, Bob had taken on staying within the apartment. He kept his mask and gloves on at all times, and he was always armed. Whenever someone died, he took care of it. It was a big responsibility. Sammi would have taken it on, she told Beth yesterday, if she weren't needed to keep an eye on her pregnancy. _'Great, another reason to feel useless,'_ she frowned softly at herself.

Daryl was currently working on the wall, keeping an eye out for walkers and the groups returning. He'd been out there almost nonstop for the last three days. He usually came home, washed up and went straight to bed. Beth wished they were able to spend more time together, but also couldn't ask for it. Not when there was a crisis on their hands. Her own feelings had to wait.

Another sigh fell from her lips as Judith began crawling dangerously close to the edge of the bed, over her thin legs. She reached around her swollen belly to grasp the little one. "You hungry? I'm hungry.." she murmured while hauling herself to her feet. Carrying the baby was difficult, especially now that her stomach ached with almost every little movement.

–

The crossbow rested gently on his shoulder as he walked along the wall, watching for anything on the horizon. Of course, he was also a little more certain that the groups returning would come from the west and while he faced north it was unlikely he would see anything. Now that a good chunk of their guard was out sick or on runs the remaining worked longer hours and weren't really able to stay still for long.

He realized that he'd gotten lazy during the first two months here. Being able to sit on the platform for hours on watch were cake compared to having to constantly move along the wall. No wonder Conrad never sat still, he'd gotten so used to it that the man just didn't seem capable. The first couple of days had left his calves burning, nearly every muscle ached as he'd walked for close to sixteen hours a day. It was a little better today but not by much. The near constant beating he took from the sun didn't help matters.

"Water break." A familiar, chipper voice called. Daryl fought the groan that threatened to escape him as he turned to see Rosie bouncing her way toward him. Every couple of hours someone would make a walk along the wall with clean cups and fresh water for all the guard to keep them hydrated. Looks like it was Rosie's turn. "Thirsty?" She asked as she came to a stop and poured some water from the canteen into a clean cup.

He grunted a response, then reached out for the cup. The girl smirked as their fingers brushed against each others, Daryl frowned instead. After a moment he drank down the water and passed the cup back. "You know, Dixon, you don't always have to keep your distance. I don't bite." She stated with a flirty little smirk.

Daryl laughed quietly and looked away. With a quick shake of his head, he said, "that ain't what everybody else is sayin'."

The girl rolled up her pale eyes and smiled at him, obviously unphased by it. "Everyone else just likes to talk." She stated and shrugged her slender shoulders up. A grin pulled on her lips as she noticed the quick once-over her flashed at her. "If you ever want to.. just.. talk, you know where to find me."

Daryl nodded as he walked away from the red-head. Sure, he knew where she camped.. so did everyone else in Terminus. Everyone in town knew that if you wanted a quick piece of ass, Rosie was the way to go. Maggie had told him that, next to Glenn, he was the most unavailable male in the community. Sure, everyone had someone, but not like Glenn and Maggie or he and Beth. While Maggie believed Rosie to be nothing more than a harmless flirt, she'd also told Daryl to keep an eye out.

Flirting only stayed harmless for so long. Yes, Daryl found the red-head attractive, it was difficult not to really, but he didn't see her as anything more than another survivor. Before Beth there might have been the chance for the random hook-up but not now. He had all he needed and though he didn't get to spend as much time with the little blonde as he would have liked lately, she was what he needed. Not some little random encounter that he'd probably regret a few minutes into it.

A glance back told him that the red-head had moved on to the next guard, no doubt soliciting herself while hydrating the masses. He shook his head while slowly walking along the wall, just waiting for a sign from someone or something in the distance.

He glanced briefly to the pocket watch he'd found on one of the dead a couple of days before to note that he'd been on the wall close to eighteen hours now. A sigh slipped loose as his right hand rested on his chin, aiding him in cracking the bones in his neck. His feet were killing him inside the old boots, his back hurt from standing all day and his eyes were starting to burn from being open for so damned long.

He missed when Terminus was a little more peaceful, when he could just lay in bed with Beth half the day and discuss baby names. Daryl knew that the prospect of fatherhood still scared the hell out of him, the idea of losing Beth in the process was worse, but he was taking it one day at a time. He still remembered the feeling he'd gotten the first time he'd felt the baby move.

With the paranoia and panic attacks that had hit him pretty hard before he never would have thought that he would feel euphoric over her pregnancy but when he'd felt that little kick against his cheek it had been one of the most magical things in the world to him. He'd felt the baby kick a handful of times since then but was frequently too tired to actually make note of it.

He couldn't really complain about the long hours, it was to keep Terminus safe. It kept Beth and their kid safe. It kept everyone he knew protected. While he wished like hell he could have gone on the run to help them out, he couldn't leave Beth here alone. Sure, she had Sammi and Bob, but that wasn't enough. What if Carol got back before his group? No. It wasn't a good risk. Not right now.

–

The hours ticked by so slowly, at least they seemed to anyway. The back and forth between getting in the damned cars and getting back out of them. Tyreese let out a low sigh as he walked beside Jada, the small woman held the machete close to her side. She was good, he gave her that, but he'd been hoping for some one on one with Carol and a couple walkers. It was getting more and more difficult not to just heave the hammer at the back of her head. The woman was only a couple of feet ahead of him.

Thing was, he knew if he did it everyone here would see and with Cole walking behind him it wasn't much of a risk he could afford yet. Perhaps if he got desperate he might, but as of right now it just wasn't in the cards. The walk was slow, too. They'd gone through a couple of houses and found some canned goods, siphoned some gas out of a few parked cars and had even found a couple of half full gas cans in some of the garages. They'd raided for food, books, clothing, meds, anything they could find.

They'd even grabbed some gardening tools out of a shed. It wasn't much but they were certain the farming crew could make use of them. All Tyreese knew was that as slow as this was going, it was doing little to hold him back. His every thought was how to dispatch the silver-haired woman, how to rid them of Carol. His dark eyes stared into the back of her head as they walked, hardly paying attention to his surroundings.

He knew that that was just as risky as attempting to take her out in a crowded room, he was simply trusting everyone else around him to jump at any danger. While he was hardly aware of much else, he was aware of the others.

Gavin stopped at the doorway of the small store they'd been in, everyone's arms laden with useable materials and objects, to peer into the street. Once he was sure there were no walkers everyone rushed to the van and deposited their haul into the back. "Alright," Gavin stated in his low voice, "Cole you and I are going to check that apartment. Carol and Paul, you take that one. Ty and Jada, over there. Move quick, move silent, grab what you can."

He'd pointed out the various apartments over the shops they'd just cleared. Pretty much the last hope they had of finding anything in this tiny town. Hopefully they'd find something. Tyreese sighed faintly, his plan to get Carol alone wasn't going over well. Of course, they had planned for this. The whole group had figured that there was a good chance he wouldn't get the job done on this run. While Tyreese wanted nothing more than to take the woman out now instead of playing buddy-buddy with her, he also knew that there was that chance he would have to control his rage for just a little longer.

If he were lucky he'd find a way to take her out on the way home.

–

It was quiet in the apartment that he and Jada stepped into, the faint moan of a walker behind the bathroom door didn't bother either of them. While both knew that at some point they'd have to step inside to check for medications, they also wanted to get a good check of the apartment first. He took the second bedroom while Jada slipped into the first. Neither spoke, there wasn't much need at the moment.

The large male scoured the bedroom and found a tattered, yet useable, back pack on the floor. He quickly stuffed a few things that looked to be useful from the bedroom into the bag. A muffled thump in the other room caused his brows to furrow. Tightening his grip on the sledgehammer he'd found with the gardening tools Tyreese began to slowly make his way out of the room. "Jada?" He whispered. The sound only enticing the walker in the bathroom who threw itself at the door.

He frowned a little more before stepping into the room that the thin girl had walked into. "Jada?" He whispered again, though didn't see her right away. As Tyreese took another step into the room a blinding pain shot through his lower back causing him to stumble and gasp. It took him a moment to realize through the heat of the pain that it had also been cold. He would have attributed it to a walker if not for that.

He staggered again, colliding with a dresser along the far wall and scattering the bottles of perfume that rested on top. His gaze lowered to the floor for a moment, eyes shooting wide at the sight. Jada lay, gasping for air through the wound in her neck and the blood pooling around her head. She reached out a hand toward Tyreese.

At first he thought that the woman was reaching for him to help her up, though a closer examination of her hand told him that she was pointing behind him. Before he had the chance to turn a second pain shot through his back, once more feeling the chill of metal as it brushed across his spine. If he hadn't been holding onto the dresser he was certain he would have crumpled to the floor.

Panting heavily, he turned just enough to see the smirking face behind him. "Did you really think I was that stupid?" Carol asked, her voice almost innocent despite the fact that she'd murdered Jada and had just stabbed him twice.

Gripping harder onto the sledgehammer, Tyreese wheeled about, aiming to clock the woman in the head. He overestimated himself, though, and fell short before hitting the ground. "Carol! Don't you do it! Don't.." he breathed, struggling to try and push himself back to his now numb feet.

"Oh, honey.. it's already done."

**–**

**Reviews?**


	34. Dead Weight

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language, Feels (sorry, they must happen)**

**Authors Note: Sorry, POV sort of jumps around a lot on this one.**

–

It felt like just yesterday that they'd left Terminus, yet at the same time it felt like a year. Her dark eyes shifted toward Maggie. The woman seemed half helpless right now with the worry for her sister. It's not like there was any blame in it, though. Sasha worried every moment that they were away from Terminus. She worried for Bob, who selflessly put himself in danger to help those that were sick. She was reminded of Hershel in that moment. While it was admirable that he'd gone into the building to help care for the sick, she couldn't help but hate him for it.

Of course, Sasha loved him beyond a shadow of a doubt, it was just the worry that he would become infected and sick like everyone else. She couldn't bear to lose him to this crazy world like they'd lost everyone else. The woman was also worried for Tyreese. What happened when he got back? She hoped he'd be smart enough to stay away from the infected. Perhaps it was just because she loved to boss him around so much but the woman worried what would happen to him if she weren't there to tell him what to do.

Glenn seemed like the most proficient of their group. He kept everyone on their toes and searching for what was truly needed while Michonne took on the majority of the walkers. Truthfully, Sasha was glad for the warriors presence. Michonne could single handedly take on just about anything that came their way without a single worry. The three guard that had come along for the ride (Joseph, Nelson and Quinn) were perfectly able to take care of everyone and themselves.

Sasha was certain that they had only come along to escape the chance of infection, though. It seemed like a good enough reason. Especially considering that was the biggest reason Sasha had gone on the trip. She'd already been sick once, she didn't want to catch it a second time. They really hadn't gone too terribly far from Terminus. While most of the raids over the last year had been in smaller towns to avoid the risk of exposure to the walkers, they had all opted for a large city this time around.

There was a much higher chance of finding the appropriate medications within a large town. And if not, they would make their way to one of the smaller cities along the route back. Conrad had gone over everything, down to the last detail, with the group before they left the walls of their sanctuary. They knew every rest stop, every town and village and every gas station between Terminus and Eatonville. If they couldn't find what was needed in Eatonville then they would make the appropriate stops on the way back.

Naturally, they all hoped that they would be able to find what was needed. Michonne let out a low sigh as she walked ahead of the group. "What's wrong?" Glenn asked, stepping closer to the woman. Michonne shook her head, obviously not wanting to say. There was a look on her face that made Sasha curious, though. Something was up with their warrior and they needed to know what. The woman just shook her head again, defiance and determination etched into her features.

It was only a few minutes later that the woman winced and placed her free hand to her temple. Another soft sigh fell from Michonne's lips as she continued to walk, keeping her face hidden from the rest now. "Michonne?" Maggie's voice rang out in concern as she walked faster to put herself in front of the warrior. Her hands reached out to stop the other woman from walking any further, eyes locked to her face. "Oh no.." She breathed the words out while turning her gaze to the others.

"I'm fine." Michonne demanded, harshly shoving passed Maggie to continue their search.

All it had taken was that look, those two words in that breathless voice and Sasha knew. Michonne was sick. Their whole group was at risk. While trying to control her paranoid thoughts the woman quickly looked to the others. Only Glenn seemed as worried as she was, because both of them knew what could happen. "Let's pick up the pace." Sasha stated to the group, getting patting Michonne's shoulder as she brushed passed the woman.

–

While Michonne appreciated the gesture and the worry, she wanted to get things taken care of and find what they needed to before it was too late. She'd really started feeling it about an hour before. The nausea had kicked in last night but she'd figured it was from not getting a lot to eat and being so damned worried. The ache in her legs had started earlier today, she'd figured that was just from walking so much. But when the blinding headache began to build she knew.

She was sick. She'd managed to catch it and being with these people put every one of them at risk. It was the biggest reason she'd kept her distance from them as they'd walked. She needed to minimize their exposure to her. Not like it mattered, they'd been traveling in the same van in such close quarters. They were all already exposed.

Naturally, the woman was pretty pissed about having gotten the infection. She'd managed to avoid it last time, she'd done really well actually. And this time she'd done all she could to stay clear of anyone else who showed symptoms. Knowing that she was sick made her question everyone she'd been around before she'd left Terminus. Rick. Daryl. Carl. Beth. Judith.

Michonne had stopped praying to God a long time ago, ever since Andre had died, but as she walked the woman found herself praying that she hadn't exposed anyone who would get Beth or Judith sick. As everyone began filing passed her she frowned, seeing the pity in their eyes. She didn't want their damn pity! She wasn't asking for it and she certainly wasn't going to take it!

With renewed determination the woman charged ahead of everyone else to once more take the lead. When a walker came their way she sliced its head off, when something blocked their path she moved it. Michonne wasn't going to be the source of anyone's pity. She hadn't been for a very long time and she wasn't going to be now.

It went on this way for several hours, despite Sasha and Maggie's pestering to take it easy. They took a break in a grocery store that they'd just cleared out so that the group could scour the pharmacy that was attached. Instead of helping them, the warrior leaned back against the counter to catch her breath. She was feeling faint and weak and knew that it was because she was getting worse.

Again she prayed, this time for herself. She crouched against the wall, using it to brace her back so that she wouldn't fall over, and placed her head in her hands, fighting against the building migraine that was steadily becoming crippling.

Glenn's shout was muffled by the pain in her head, the sound only furthering the pounding between her temples. He yelled again, causing her to wince as she pressed her hands over her ears in the attempt to block it out. Michonne began to pray that this wasn't it. This wasn't her end.

–

Daryl sighed heavily, leaning back against the wall. He was supposed to be on duty. He'd barely made it to the wall today. He'd worked nearly sixteen hours the day before and was completely exhausted. Since he'd helped Bob with disposing of the dead from the building the night before Daryl had stayed away from the house to keep Beth safe.

It killed him to know he wasn't there right now. What was worse, his sleeping had suffered. It was next to impossible to get comfortable in Gavin's room. He figured that the guy wasn't there right now, his bed was fair game for the night at least. While Daryl knew he'd fallen asleep for at least six hours he woke feeling completely unrested. It had taken almost twenty minutes just to lace his boots up and another half an hour to make the ten minute walk to the wall.

Daryl frowned as he glanced down at the crossbow, leaning against his leg. He had no energy to reach out and pick it up. Dropping his head back against the wall he released another sigh, eyes closing slowly. He felt as if he could go right back to sleep, just take the day and rest right here.

"Dixon!" He heard Conrad's commanding voice and frowned in response. He said nothing, merely grunted and forced himself to nod. The simple motion seemed to require every ounce of strength to make. Hell, even opening his eyes was difficult at this point. "Ain't you supposed to be working?" Conrad asked now.

Once more Daryl forced himself to nod though couldn't get his mouth to move in order to form a response. He wanted to tell Conrad that he was just tired from working so much lately; he knew that wasn't much of an excuse, considering the ex-marine had been working longer hours than anyone else lately. He wanted to tell the man that he just needed a little more sleep and he'd be right as rain. No matter how hard he tried to form the words, his brain was too sluggish and his lips were uncooperative.

"Daryl?" He heard Conrad speak again and only now realized that the man was above him. Podium or wall he wasn't sure, his eyes didn't want to open. "Hey! Daryl?" Conrad sounded worried now as he dropped something heavy onto the wooden platform. _'His crossbow, prob'ly'_ Daryl thought before hearing the thundering steps as the man quickly climbed down the ladder. A soft crunch of rocks under boots was heard before Daryl felt ice on his face.

–

Conrad quickly gripped Daryl's face, forcing it toward him. The man was pale, his skin was on fire and there was a sheen of sweat that covered him. Even his clothes were damp. "Daryl? Come on, man, open your eyes." He demanded while tapping the other males face in the hopes of response. "Son of a bitch." He breathed in irritation and worry.

It didn't take an expert.. or maybe it did, who knew. All Conrad knew was that Daryl was sick. Pretty close to knocking on death's door by the look of things. _'Great, all my good men are either sick, dead or out in the field.'_ He thought with a deep sigh.

The marine took a step back, preparing to call for someone to help him get Daryl to quarantine when the redneck slumped forward. If Conrad hadn't caught him Daryl probably would have knocked his skull against the pavement. He frowned darkly, hefting the male into his arms almost awkwardly. While Daryl was dead weight it made him just a little more difficult to carry him.

He said nothing to others as he walked as fast as he possibly could toward quarantine. Two guard stood outside the door with hand guns and masks, making it difficult to know who they were. At this point it made more sense to have people keeping the sick locked in than watching the walls. The walls were strong enough that if someone tried to come through they would be held off for a time. At least long enough to get a crew up there and take them out before too much damage could be caused.

Keeping the sick in was another story. Before he was allowed to enter the building one of the guard secured a mask around his mouth and nose in the hopes of protecting him a little bit. No sooner did he step inside Conrad had a brief flashback to his military days.

There had been times while he'd been overseas that they would raid someplace. Women and children, sick and elderly lined the walls. Most had been tossed from their apartments for the military to search, it didn't matter if it was American or their own. Seeing the few who were trying to help rushing about only reminded him of the field medics that attempted to help everyone they could in the short amount of time they had with the limited supplies they could muster.

He sucked in a sharp breath through the mask to bring himself back to the present, although it was easily believable that his past was more preferable. While he saw their world as little more than another war, fighting against people was a lot simpler than fighting against walkers and illnesses.

"Conrad?" He heard Bob's voice from behind as he stepped further into the building. Naturally it was Bob that he'd been searching for.

"Stookey," he began while turning. The moment the doctors eyes landed on Daryl he sighed.

Bob still wore his mask and gloves with a long t-shirt to help protect his arms against any blood that might spatter. It was better be prepared and Conrad was glad that the man hadn't caught it yet. At least he didn't seem to have caught it. Which was what mattered in the long run. "It's getting bad out there, isn't it?" Bob asked, tearing his gaze away from Daryl's pale face.

Conrad nodded and shifted the heavy male in his arms. "Where can I put 'im?" He grunted in exertion. The doctor pointed and Conrad followed him to a room with a couple of open cots. After carefully depositing the unconscious male onto one his gaze turned back toward Bob. "Feels like it's getting worse with every passing minute. How's things in here?" He asked in turn.

Bob let out a deep sigh, rubbing his sleeve across his sweating forehead. "Seems like it's getting worse every minute," he mimicked. His gaze danced around the room for a moment before landing on Daryl. He hoped to God that Sasha's group got back soon with meds. There was all too much of a chance that they were going to lose a lot more people.

Since the infection had taken hold they'd lost twenty people with another fifteen, sixteen with Daryl, stuck in quarantine. There were less than twenty out in Terminus now. Which only meant that things were getting worse. Hopefully, something looked up soon because Bob wasn't sure he could take much more of things going worse. "They should be back soon, yeah?" He asked. It seemed as if the days all blended together in here.

"Today at the earliest. So long as they didn't run into any trouble both groups should be back today." He stated. Conrad helped to plan every run, mapping out the roads and back roads into and out of towns that were sure to have some supplies. So long as neither group had trouble Cole's group should have taken about two weeks and Sasha's just over a week. Which put both of their ETA's on today, tomorrow at the next earliest date. If they didn't show by the day after then it was time to worry.

Conrad simply prayed that no one in either group was sick, specifically Cole's group because they didn't know what was happening. Although, Tyreese and Carol were with him and were certain to recognize it.

"Anyone talk to Beth, yet?" Stookey's voice drew him from his thoughts. Conrad quickly turned his gaze toward the doctor before following the man's toward Daryl. After a long moment he grunted a 'no' and sighed heavily.

He took a step back, itching to get out of this place and murmured, "I'll let you know what I find out." Bob nodded a response before kneeling beside Daryl's cot to take vitals. Conrad couldn't take another moment in this place, it scared him more than he wanted to admit. Being around so many deathly sick people made his skin crawl. His plan was to shower and go talk to Beth before getting on the wall again, but he'd barely made it outside the doors when a voice called out to stop him.

"Conrad! Hey, hold up!" He turned toward the sound, catching sight of Rick jogging his way. While there was still a faint limp in his run the man seemed to be improving greatly. His knee still ached him every now and again, Conrad knew that it would probably never fully heal. He nodded while pulling the mask from his face to catch a good breath of clean air. "I heard Daryl collapsed?"

"Who told you that?" Conrad asked evasively. Naturally, he knew that Daryl and Rick were some of the closest friends imaginable but he didn't want word getting back to Beth just yet. It should come from him.

Rick's brows furrowed in frustration, "what does it matter who told me? Is he in there?" The man asked in anger, his dark eyes dancing toward the door where the guards stood watch.

Conrad frowned darkly and ran his hands back through his pale hair before nodding faintly. "He dropped about twenty minutes ago."

"Well... are you sure it's not just exhaustion? He's been working a lot." Naturally Rick didn't want to believe that Daryl was destructible like everyone else.

Conrad shook his head softly, frowning hard. "He's sweating, he's got a high fever, he's sick.."

"Look, you.. um.." it took a moment for the man to set his thoughts back into order, "I'll tell Beth. It should come from someone she knows."

"I'll tell her." The ex-marine frowned in response.

Rick shook his head again, rubbing at the back of his neck to wipe the sweat from the summer heat away. "Look, if Maggie were here I'd tell you it was best that she tell Beth." When Conrad nodded he continued, "same thing applies. It should come from someone Beth knows." The male looked as though he would argue for a moment, then shook his head faintly.

"Alright, go.. Just.. make sure she knows that Bob's looking after him." Conrad murmured and frowned.

The ex-cop nodded and smiled sadly while taking a step back, "let me know if anyone shows up." He stated while glancing toward the wall for emphasis.

**–**

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	35. Made to Suffer

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: **

–

A sigh fell from her lips as she leaned back against the back of the couch, bored out of her mind. Judith had stayed the night with her while Daryl worked through most of the night. He'd peeked in long enough to tell her that he wouldn't be home which caused her to frown. After telling her that he'd been with the infected for a good part of the day he slipped back out the door.

She was bored. Bored, bored bored. Every book that she could possibly read to Judith had been read, some of them even memorized. She'd played games with the baby, helped her to walk around the house, gave her a bath, cuddled with her and put her to sleep. Now she wished for a moment's peace to do the same. Sleep hadn't come easy the night before. Not only because Daryl wasn't there but because the baby had moved so darn much.

Now, with Judith napping on the floor Beth leaned back on the couch in the hopes of catching a few hours of shut eye. Almost instantly her head swirled with fantasies. A better time, a better place. She and Daryl lounging with a picnic by the beach. Usually whenever she closed her eyes and thought of something better, that was it: Her and Daryl alone somewhere, just together and happy.

Some days she envisioned a beautiful little boy with dark hair and dark blue eyes all curled in her arms and others she couldn't quite help but see a little girl with dark curls and pale eyes. She still fussed over the names, but Daryl didn't seem to mind what she chose. Of course, the girl hoped for a little more input on it but she wasn't going to complain about it, either. She mulled many over, while pestering Daryl when she could to at least consider a little Daryl Jr. He was adamant about the child only bearing his last name, though.

Even with that he didn't seem keen. She was certain that she would not give their child the last name Greene. Sure, she'd loved the name because it was her fathers, but all children should have their fathers name.

Her right hand gently rubbed along the swell of her belly as she felt herself slowly drifting toward unconsciousness. Even the usually hyperactive baby had settled for a moment to allow her to fall asleep. Everything was so peaceful and quiet, Judith's soft snores floated up from the floor. The rhythm helped to relax her even further.

Beth was in that state between sleep and awareness, her body slowly shutting down to sleep when a pounding sounded at her door. She was tempted to ignore it and began to shift onto her side when the door was knocked on again. With a glance to Judith, who was amazingly still asleep, she frowned and as quickly as she could pulled herself off the couch.

Just as she got to the door whomever was on the other side began to pound again causing her to yank it open in irritation. "Rick?" She whispered and glanced toward the baby, "shh, she's sleeping." The blonde stepped back from the door to allow the elder male in, quickly closing it behind him. She stared at him for a long moment while he looked at a spot on the wall above her head. He appeared to be truly deep in thought about something and the blonde wasn't sure if she should interrupt it.

Finally, after what felt like an hour, Rick cleared his throat and glanced toward the sleeping baby. He gently reached out to place a hand on Beth's shoulder, guiding her back to the couch to sit. The girl stared at him, watching his every expression. She knew something was wrong, it wasn't difficult to see that.

Her mind instantly turned toward Maggie. The group had come back and Maggie hadn't made it. Or Carl had gotten sick. Never in a million years had she expected the words that Rick uttered. He cleared his throat again while wiping at his face. "Beth.. umm. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I thought it should come from someone you know. Look, Beth.. Daryl's sick.." he finally spit out, looking anywhere but her shocked face.

Beth stared at him for a moment as if he were crazy, even allowed a sharp laugh to slip from her lips. There was some part of her mind that refused to see Daryl as human like the rest of them. He couldn't get sick. Daryl had been through more shit in his life than any of them could ever even think about. He'd survived his drunk and abusive father, his psychotic drug addict brother, this crazy world full of the undead, the governor, the harsh winters. No. He would not, could not be taken out by something so trivial as an illness.

No. Daryl would die fighting walkers. That was the way he should go. Not some bloody infection. No, this just wasn't possible. Daryl wasn't sick. He'd just been here the night before and he'd been fine. It wasn't possible. It couldn't have happened. Daryl wasn't sick.

Her mind continued to repeat the mantra while staring at Rick, waiting for him to tell her it was all a big joke and Daryl to come striding through the door with a grin plastered on his lips. But it wasn't a joke and Daryl wasn't standing outside.

A strange sound filled the girls ears and she slowly looked away from Rick toward the front door. Seeing it was still in place and that no one had come through she looked to Judith who was still asleep on the floor in front of her. Her gaze then shot to the ex-cop who was staring back at her sadly.

Beth hadn't even realized she'd begun freaking out until Rick was sitting beside her, patting her back to calm her. "Shhh," he murmured. She only the realized that the sound she'd heard was the strangled gasps as she fought for air. Her head swam and her fingers shook as she tried to catch a good breath. "Beth, Beth.. shh." Normally Beth would have found his deep, smooth voice very calming, but at the moment she couldn't focus on anything other than Daryl being stuck in that apartment complex with all the other infected. Many of which were dying quickly, many would turn.

"Hey, they should be back today with medicine, everything is going to be fine." He promised, still rubbing her back. Beth shook her head hard as she sucked in another rasping breath. "Should I get Sammi?" He asked causing the blonde to shake her head. Lord only knew what the Hispanic woman would order her to do if she knew about this little panic attack. It's not as though Beth could control it, though. "Everything's going to be fine." He told her again.

Finally the girl found her voice, "we don't know that!" She said loudly which caused the baby to twitch on the floor. Frowning darkly she reached down and gently patted the back of the baby's head to soothe her back to sleep. After sucking in a sharp breath her gaze turned back to Rick. "We don't know that, Rick. What if they don't get back today?"

Rick frowned and shook his head in response, sighing inaudibly, "just have to have hope." He murmured.

–

A groan fell from his lips, shifting a hand to his throbbing head. "Somebody hit me'r somethin'?" He mumbled, not really expecting much of an answer. His voice was hoarse, forcing him to realize just how sore his throat was. It felt as though he'd been screaming at the top of his lungs for hours on end. His dark eyes fluttered open, frowning as his brows furrowed when his gaze darted about to take in his surroundings.

The last thing he remembered was being in Gavin's apartment. He rubbed at his temples, wincing at the migraine that seemed to continue pounding through his head, then tried to sit up. He felt so damned weak and couldn't understand why. At least not until his eyes landed on Bob. The doctor was leaning back against the counter, watching Daryl cautiously. "Aw.. shit.. no.." he whispered in defeat. It took several long moments but he finally worked up the motivation to lurch himself off the bed.

The action caused the room to spin dangerously, threatening to spill him onto the floor. Bob jumped into action and quickly grasped Daryl's shoulders to keep the man on his feet. "Come on, I ain't sick.. I can't be sick." He told the doctor while shaking his head hard.

"Daryl, you're sick.. pretty bad too." The man told him with a frown hidden behind the mask. "What's the last thing you remember?" Carefully Bob deposited him back onto the cot to check his vitals.

Daryl paused a moment, wondering just how long he'd been asleep at Gavin's. "I worked'n then I helped ya burn up the dead, then I went and crashed out at Gavin's after tellin' Beth I wouldn't be able to be home for the night." He rattled off. Seeing another frown on Bob's face caused his paranoia to kick into overdrive. "Is she alright?" He asked, once more trying to push himself off the bed.

"Beth's fine, the baby is fine." Bob responded while forcing Daryl to lay back down. His gloved fingers gripped Daryl's wrist gently to check his pulse while murmuring, "you collapsed this morning at the wall. Conrad carried you here. You've been out for almost four hours."

"Fou-" Daryl began to speak, but stopped with a sigh. He was silent a moment before, "she know?"

Bob nodded gently now while leaning in close to stare into Daryl's eyes, checking on the small veins there to be sure that the bleeding hadn't started. "Conrad said he was going to, I haven't heard much from anyone on the outside since he brought you. I imagine he's already told her. It's a good thing she's smart, Daryl."

His brows furrowed lightly in concern as he stared back at the doctor, "why you say that?" He asked.

Bob chuckled quietly, "because otherwise she'd be in here with you." The words made Daryl frown. He knew full well that if Beth were the one in here he would have braved the thought of getting sick to be at her side. Daryl was fairly certain that the blonde had considered it, but with their unborn child he didn't believe that the girl would put herself through the risk.

He fell silent now, dreading what was to come. "They're s'posed to be back today, ain't they?" He asked, wincing at the pain in his sore throat. Of course it only got worse the more he talked but he could only stay silent for so long. Bob nodded and shrugged at the same time to tell the redneck that they weren't sure when the group would return with medicine. It was difficult to know for sure. He fell silent again before sighing heavily. "What'chu need me to do?" He asked as he carefully sat up.

Thankfully this time there wasn't any dizziness and when he stood he was mostly steady on his feet. Of course there was a hint of a sway as his sick and weakened body fought against the beating it was taking. Bob stared for a moment as the man stood before shaking his head. "If you want to help, you can take water to everyone else. There's not many that can walk around in here, most everyone's too sick. Everybody needs to keep hydrated, though.." he state before nodding for Daryl to follow him.

The guard had brought a couple of gallon jugs full of water this morning to be distributed among everyone and Bob hadn't had much time to do anything. "How'd it get here?" Daryl asked now. At first the doctor thought he'd been questioning the water, though after several moments he realized that Daryl was asking about the sickness. He frowned and shook his head in response.

"We don't even know what caused it at the prison, do we?" He asked back.

The brunette sighed and looked away, knowing that Bob was right. Sure, Hershel had had a couple of ideas that he'd shared, but it was nothing concrete. As Daryl stepped away from the doctor, who had other things to do, he began running those ideas through his head.

First: someone brought it back with them while on a run, that seemed unlikely since the people who'd gotten sick first hadn't even left Terminus. Had it been Tyreese or even Maggie he could have understood, but Paulo hadn't left the confines of Terminus since he'd gotten here shortly after Conrad and the others had set it up.

Second: contaminated water supply, a walker or something had rotted close to their water supply and made everyone sick. This option was probable and made him stare down at the jug in disgust for a moment. A frown traced his lips before ticking through the next options.

Third: bad meat, they'd killed the pigs at the prison specifically because of this idea and all Daryl could think was that if it were due to their meat supplies then it was on him. He'd been the one hunting and bringing the food in. Of course, this seemed unlikely as well considering people would have gotten sick sooner or more people would have gotten it. Besides, to the best of his memory Paulo didn't eat meat anyway. No way he would have gotten it from the meat.

Fourth: an outsider. This was next to impossible at the prison because there hadn't been any recent outsiders. Here in Terminus the only outsider they'd had was Carol and she seemed completely symptom free. It was highly improbable that she'd carried anything around for a year that would stir up the virus in another community. She wasn't stupid. It could have gotten her sick.

Fifth: something airborne. This seemed illogical because then a sickened community would have to be relatively close for it to have affected them at all. The water seemed the most likely option, but what did he know?

Daryl sighed as he continued distributing the water to the sick and dying. Bob checked on everyone and three times Daryl walked passed someone dead. The wound to their skull told him that the doctor had already taken the people out, just hadn't yet cleared them out of the building. Did he blame the guy? Not at all. Actually, Daryl was fairly certain that if this ended they should leave the dead inside and burn the whole place to the ground.

It would be better than chancing someone else getting sick and this vicious cycle repeating. His dark eyes shifted around before landing on something familiar in the room to his right. He frowned as he stepped inside of the room.

The sound of his boots on the floor brought the girl back to attention, "Hey Dixon.." Rosie murmured weakly while forcing a smile onto her full lips. Daryl sighed and held out the cup full of water. The red-head didn't protest and quickly reached out for it to guzzle it down without a second thought. When she passed the cup back to him she frowned while looking over his face. "Sucks to see you in here." She commented.

Daryl nodded softly and after a quick glance around he dropped onto the floor beside her cot. He was already exhausted, barely fifteen minutes on his feet and he was tired. "Didn't know you was here, either." He stated.

The girl laughed weakly and shook her head. "Guess Conrad ain't telling everyone who we might've lost." She replied while frowning. Looking at it that way was certainly logical.

"They should be back today wit' the meds." He told her now, hoping to ease her mind a little.

The girl laughed quietly. "It won't matter." She stated with a sad smile tugging her lips. When Daryl's brows furrowed in confusion she sighed. "Over half the people in here are already dead, they just don't know it yet. Anyone in here longer than a day doesn't have a snowballs chance in Hell." She glanced around at the two in her room, already deteriorating toward their deaths. "Being around everyone sick isn't helping, either.

Everyone is too close together here, it's only making things worse.." She breathed a sigh before coughing quietly. Daryl frowned when he heard the cough because he knew that meant there probably wasn't much time left for the red-head. While her chipper attitude tended to get on his nerves Daryl also didn't want to see the girl die. She didn't deserve to die in here surrounded by all this death and mayhem. It should have been something better.

Hesitantly Daryl reached out a hand to gently pat the back of hers. She smiled at the contact, brief as it was. The red-head opened her mouth to say more before coughing heavily now. Rosie fought against the tears that were trying to hit her as she looked toward Daryl, "stay here with me.. just for a little while?" She asked, her voice rougher than before. When he nodded she breathed a soft sigh of relief before leaning back on the bed and closing her pretty eyes.

**–**

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	36. The Chosen Ones

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language, Mentions of drugs**

**Authors Note: **

–

Daryl sighed quietly as he watched the sun set through the window of the small room. Rosie had fallen asleep about an hour before, maybe longer he wasn't certain. She'd coughed here and there while she was sleeping but continued to rest on. He was exhausted and couldn't quite get himself to settle down long enough for sleep. Perhaps it was because he was worried that if he went to sleep he wouldn't wake back up. While Bob had told him when he'd peeked in half an hour ago that resting was good, Daryl couldn't help but to fight it.

He yawned silently, fighting to maintain consciousness. While he knew that he should sleep, he just couldn't bring himself to do it. Several people wandered around the halls but none had brought a report that the group had returned with meds. His paranoia was beginning to get the better of him about it, too. Daryl couldn't stop thinking about what Rosie had said before she'd fallen asleep about how half the people in this building were already dead.

She was right and the longer that they stayed there, the less chance that they had of making it out alive. The thought scared him more than he cared to admit aloud. His hands combed back through his hair, frowning at the dampness of it. He barely even noticed he was sweating until he touched his hair. He couldn't help but to wonder what Beth was doing and how she was doing. Was she pacing the floor in worry? Was she attempting to get some sleep? Was she staring out at the moon the same as him?

When the tears burned his eyes, he mentally cursed himself before rubbing them away. It hurt to think of the possibilities now. At first he'd been worried about what could happen to Beth when she gave birth because he was afraid she would die in the process. The idea of being like Rick and having to do it alone scared the hell out of him. The idea of losing both Beth and the baby was almost worse. Now he had to worry about whether or not he would even get to see his child. It was more terrifying than anything he could have thought about before now.

If he were to die in here and Beth were to die in labor, who would raise their child? Michonne? Rick? Both of them had too much responsibility already. Maggie and Glenn? Sure, both of them wanted a child but he didn't want his child to call someone else 'dad'. That realization rocked him harder than he ever would have realized. _'Please let me make it out of this,'_ he prayed silently, _'please let everything be alright.'_ Daryl knew that prayer didn't mean much, unless you were religious and you believed that prayer was going to someone. He'd never truly believed in God or a higher power. Things happened and that was the way it was, at least that had always been the way he'd seen things. Desperate times called for desperate measures, though. He knew that while it didn't mean too much, praying was a way to comfort oneself, to believe they were doing something to help their situation.

"Hey, you're still here." Rosie's weak voice pulled him from his thoughts. Turning his gaze up toward the girl, he nodded softly.

"Ain't much else to do." He replied and offered a gentle smile. The red-head smiled in return as she forced herself to sit up. She barely looked as though she would manage it, the girl looked so frail. He mentally cursed whatever had brought this on.

Rosie combed her fingers back through her hair, attempting to work some of the knots out of the curls. It didn't do much besides fluff it up but she still made the attempt. She was silent for a long time, looking over his pale face as he stared out the window at the moon. After a period she spoke again, her voice quieter than before. "If anyone makes it out of this.. I hope it's you."

His brows furrowed, unsure that he'd heard her right, as he looked back to her face. He didn't say anything in return, merely stared at her until she laughed silently. The action caused her to cough again, her hand quickly raising to cover her mouth. _'As if it matters much at this point.'_ He thought bitterly.

After a moment the girl straightened back up and looked at him again. "You've got a lot more going for you than half the people here." She told him now. "With Beth and the baby." When he looked away from her she frowned. "You must be pretty worried about them."

Daryl nodded and sighed again while staring at his lap. "I am." Fighting back the angry tears he shifted his gaze back to her pretty face. "But, 'ey, they're gonna be back soon wit' the meds, ya know? Ain't nothin' to worry 'bout." He stated with a forced smile.

Rosie laughed humorlessly and shook her head, "and you don't believe that for a second, do you?"

He felt silent now while staring at her. His silence was more than enough of an answer for the red-head and she nodded softly. She didn't much believe it either. If the girl was honest, truly honest, with herself the group would get back too late to do any real good. Swallowing hard she opted for a change of subject. "I'd kill for a joint right about now." When his brows rose up she chuckled silently. "It'd be nice to have a good high. Forget everything for a little while."

Daryl shook his head quickly, smirking slightly. "Unless that joints laced with somethin' you ain't forgettin' nothin'. I always thought too much." He countered. Sure, he'd smoked pot in his younger days. It was unavoidable when you were with Merle. At least he'd only ever smoked pot, never strayed toward the harder drugs like his brother had. It was better that way.

"Yeah, but at least you could find something to laugh at.." she murmured and sighed longingly.

He couldn't help but to laugh under his breath while shaking his head. She had a bit of a point there, as morbid as it was. Especially considering they would most likely be laughing at the dead. Then again, with the possibility of anyone turning at any time in here, it was better to be a little more aware. Both fell silent for a long time after the girl laid back on her cot and stared at the ceiling. Daryl had begun to wonder if she'd fallen asleep, though it took a small glance toward her face to see she wasn't.

"You're a good guy, Daryl," she said while turning onto her side, her green eyes dancing over his face. His shoulders rose and fell in a quick shrug as he watched the window as the moon continued to rise. "No, really. I can't tell you how many relationships I've seen get screwed up because of all this." Of course, she was talking about the state of their world, but there was more and he knew it.

"S'not like you really help." He murmured while looking back to her pointedly.

The girl actually laughed quietly, shaking her head. "No, not really. I flirt, I can't always stop myself, it just sort of happens. It's not always my fault when guys come to me. I'm not going to turn them down, it's not often enough you get laid anymore." She countered with a smirk. Rosie sort of reminded him of a womanizing man and the thought made him laugh silently.

"So why're you always comin' after me?" He asked, his dark eyes on her face.

A flirty smirk filled her lips as she stared back at him. "Does it make you uncomfortable, Dixon?"

"People around me more." He said, causing her brows to knit together in confusion. "Maggie, Beth. Ain't hard for 'em to think there's somethin' to it."

She frowned a little now, "did I get you in trouble with your old lady?"

Daryl shook his head lightly. While it irritated Beth, she knew that Daryl wouldn't go seeking Rosie out. Perhaps it was just because she knew how faithful he was to her, how much he loved her, but there was also the part of him that just took so long to get comfortable with someone else. Hell, he'd known Beth for over a year before there was any sort of physical contact. He didn't touch people or allow them to touch him without trusting them enough for it.

The red-head sighed inaudibly before reaching out to pat his knee lightly. "We make it out of this, I'll back off, okay? Most times I don't even realize I'm doing it until it's already said, really. But I promise, I'll keep my distance." She said, almost sadly.

Daryl frowned and shook his head, "ain't gotta keep away, just.."

"Watch what I say and avoid physical contact?" She finished the sentence in what she assumed would be his words.

Daryl laughed quietly and nodded. "I s'pose, yeah."

The girl appeared to think it through for a moment before holding out her hand, pinky extended. "Pinky promise," she stated, sounding almost like a little girl. When Daryl looked at her hand for a moment uncertainly she laughed, "what? You've never pinky promised before?" He shook his head slowly causing another laugh to fall from her lips. "Here, hold out your hand.. now your pinky," she instructed, fighting off more laughter. "Now.." she locked their pinkies together and shook their hands slightly before releasing him. "There. Solemn promise."

Daryl couldn't stop the soft laugh that fell from his lips before coughing once into his hand. That simple action caused all laughter to fade from both of their faces, reality coming back to the both of them sharply. The small little social bubble they'd put themselves into hadn't had room for the catastrophe around them, for those few moments the infection wasn't alive and invading their bodies. For those few moments they were just people, friends laughing about something silly. And then the world was back, everything horrid came crashing back into their minds.

Again, the two fell silent for a short time, listening to the rest of the world around them. From all over the building they could hear the coughs of others, some near silent while others were harsh. They could hear the muffled groans of a walker slowly animating itself, they could hear Bob and the few who still had enough energy to be up and around taking care of people.

And then Daryl could heard near silent sniffles. When he glanced to Rosie there were tears streaming from her eyes that she continually wiped at. As the girl caught him staring she frowned, more tears falling, "I don't want to die.." her voice cracked as she spoke, terror on her face. She stared at him until his face blurred with the tears that continued to build in her eyes, "I don't want to die, Daryl." She cried almost silently.

He frowned, carefully shifting a little closer to rub her arm comfortingly. "I know.." he murmured. Naturally he wished that there were more he could do, but there was nothing. Nothing at all. Unless those meds got here soon, everyone would go. The thought was terrifying and as he watched the red-head cry he desperately wanted to allow himself to break down too. He was afraid that if he allowed himself to break that it would be the beginning of his end. That was not something he could accept.

Daryl did the only thing he could do and gently massaged her arm and shoulder as she cried herself to sleep. There were no real words of comfort here, not anymore. The promise of medications was a bleak one, considering no one knew when the group would be back and if they'd even find anything of use. The promise of heaven wasn't much comfort either since most people had stopped believing once the dead began to walk the earth. There was nothing he could really say to make the girl feel better and in the end there was little he could say to himself.

–

He wasn't sure how much time had passed before he heard the sounds, actually Daryl hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep. The last thing he remembered was comforting Rosie as she went to sleep and the next thing he knew his arms were folded on the cot beside her stomach with his head resting on top. A frown pulled on his lips as he tried to reorient himself to his surroundings and what the sound could have been.

Of course, he knew it was voices, a lot of shouting ones by the sound of it. Everything seemed muffled in his ears though and he frowned darkly as a hand rose to rub at the right side. He swallowed hard when he pulled his hand back and saw it covered in red. His shirt sleeve was covered, too, where his head had laid.

Fighting against the panic Daryl quickly used his sleeve to wipe at his ears until he could hear a little better, noting that most of the blood had dried and there was no more flowing. His gaze jumped to the red head, a dried trickle of blood ran from her nose down her cheek and onto the cot. Out of paranoia he reached out to check the pulse at her throat and when he was certain that he felt her heart beating beneath his fingertips he carefully pushed himself to his feet, wanting to investigate the shouting he'd heard.

It seemed to take forever to get himself up onto his feet since he felt so weak and drained out. Rubbing at his temple, which seemed to be pounding with the migraine that coursed through his skull, he walked out to the hall. The door toward the street was still closed, though a bright light filtered through the small window. Bright enough that he had to raise a hand to shield his eyes against it. With a frown on his lips he turned down the hall, following the sounds of the shouting.

"Get her on the cot." He heard Bob's voice. Great someone else was sick. As if it should have surprised him, or anyone else. "When did she drop?" Bob asked someone in the room. Daryl had been prepared to turn and head back to his own cot with another familiar voice stopped him.

"Yesterday afternoon, the coughing really got her this morning. We got back here as fast as we could."

"Maggie!?" Daryl breathed and quickly rushed toward the room. Moving as fast as he had caused his head to spin and he clutched at the door frame for support. He heard several gasps, probably from seeing him there, before his vision cleared enough to see the familiar faces in the room. Glenn, Maggie, Bob, Sasha–all of whom wore the medical masks and gloves to keep themselves protected–he assumed Michonne was with Rick. At least until his gaze lowered to the cot.

A set of familiar brown boots hung over the edge. Slowly, he stepped forward, looking up the slender frame, over the dirty skinny jeans and tan shirt to the dark skin. The dreadlocks that hung around her face and over the edge of the cot. "Aw no.." he shook his head quickly. If anyone was indestructible it was Michonne. Their warrior and samurai. She was tough, she could make it through anything. No damned virus would kill Michonne! It couldn't! His gaze snapped to Bob and Glenn, "well, what're you waitin' for!? Make the damn cure!" He shouted at them.

Glenn glanced toward Maggie before turning toward Daryl, "we don't know that we have enough for everyone." He murmured softly. This realization caused the redneck to gasp in worry and fear and heartache. They would now have to pick and choose who could get the vaccine, who could be healthy. His gaze turned down toward the unconscious woman wondering how they would make that choice. Who would be deemed good enough to receive it?

Daryl walked slowly toward the head of the cot, settling himself down onto the one beside it. "Standin' around talkin' about it ain't gettin' anyone better." He muttered while looking down at Michonne. Bob nodded softly in agreement before reaching out for the bag of medications. He ushered Sasha and Glenn to follow him since both had been there the last time when Hershel had made it and both would remember how to do it.

Maggie stayed behind for a moment, frowning softly behind her mask as she reached out to touch Daryl's shoulder. "I'm real sorry, Daryl.. I hope we can make this work." She whispered. When he nodded softly and continued to stare toward Michonne she turned and made her way out of the room to follow behind her husband.

He was silent for a long time, simply staring down at the woman's face as she slept. Once more he turned his gaze toward the window, looking out at the moonlit sky. He had to wonder if Beth were awake. What was the girl thinking about, what could her choices be here? With a heavy sigh he turned his attention back to the warrior, frowning when he saw the trickle of blood from her nose.

Daryl reached out and wiped it away with his shirt sleeve, the action causing the woman's eyes to snap open. When they landed on Daryl she smiled lightly as if she were waking from a horrid dream, but then as reality set in it slowly vanished. "You too?" She asked as she struggled to sit up. He quickly shifted to help her with a hand on her back so that she wouldn't fall over. After a moment he nodded in silence. "Beth okay?" She asked in worry as her gaze danced toward his face.

"I s'pose so. Ain't nobody told me any diff'r'nt." He stated and shrugged, hoping to god she was fine. "They said you passed out yest'rday."

Michonne frowned and rubbed at her temples for a moment. "Yeah, we found a store with a pharmacy. Everyone went in and started searching.. I just.. I felt like my head was splitting open so I leaned back against the wall to take a break. And the next thing I know Glenn's dropping me in the back of the van with the little meds they managed to find. We started flying back here. I really don't remember much." She sighed softly while rubbing at her head a bit more. She shifted to hang her legs over the side of the cot, their knees brushing now as she looked at him. "What about you?"

"This mornin' I guess. Las' night maybe. I worked the wall, helped Bob get rid'a the dead, went back to Gavin's an' crashed. Woke up and jus' couldn't get movin'. Made it to the wall an' dropped on Conrad I heard. Woke up here after." He rattled off and frowned darkly. This whole thing was more terrifying. They'd already lost so much. "Y'all didn't bring much back wit'cha either." He told her.

Michonne's brows crinkled together at this information and he had to bet that they hadn't told her about it on the trip back. If he knew the warrior like he believed he did, she probably would have forced them to leave her behind if she had known. Glenn probably knew this too, hence why they hadn't told her. "What do you mean there wasn't much?" She asked quietly.

A sigh fell heavily from his lips before shaking his head. "Glenn said there might not be enough for everyone." She sucked in a sharp breath in response to the words and tore her gaze away from his face. For the first time, probably ever, Daryl saw tears in her dark eyes.

She was quiet for a while as she contemplated everything in her head. As her gaze settled back onto his face a frown tugged the corners of her lips. "So, who gets it?" She wondered causing his head to shake slightly. They wouldn't know until the brainiacs had done the work to make everything.

Her hand rose to cover her mouth as a heavy cough racked her slender shoulders, seeing this made Daryl frown and sigh. When she pulled her hand away from her mouth to see the small clot of blood in her palm she sucked in a sharp breath of paranoia. Of course the warrior didn't want to die, no one did. That clot only made her believe that her fate was sealed. Everything was over. Her end was coming rapidly. She said nothing to the redneck and hoped he hadn't seen it as she quickly wiped it onto her jeans, leaving a dark stain.

Their eyes locked together for a moment before hearing another familiar voice in the hall. Brows furrowed Daryl carefully eased himself back off of the cot, Michonne following quickly behind, to make his way to the door. Conrad, masked and gloved, wandered quickly through the halls with a heavy brown backpack in his hands. He said nothing to either of them as he passed, merely nodded softly and continued on his way toward the back. Curiosity got to Michonne and Daryl and both trailed behind the blonde male.

**–**

**Reviews?**


	37. Keys to the Kingdom

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I know I sort of left Rosie's death up in the air with the last chapter, as of right now I am still not sure if she's alive or if she'll die. I truly haven't decided. It's only because I really do love her character, as troublesome as she could potentially be.**

–

Conrad frowned as he stood atop the wall, his pale eyes dancing over the fields. The full moon certainly helped to keep things lit up, which meant that he didn't need to strain his eyes nearly as much as he would have any other night. Of course, he still had to a little, what with his being awake for near 49 hours straight. With half the guard dead, sick or on the raids it meant that he spent more time watching the walls for invaders or the return of their crews. When he saw headlights in the distance he straightened up, the realization that someone was coming put him onto high alert.

As always he was prepared for the unknown, but when the car swerved off the road and turned toward the trapdoor he knew it was his own people. Without a word he quickly climbed down the ladder and rushed toward the door. Unfortunately the car didn't stop once it was inside, it drove straight on through and down the street toward the quarantine building. With furrowed brows he chased after it, skidding to a halt beside the empty car only a few minutes later.

The guard at the door told him that the people in the car had all clambered out of the car fast, carrying a sick Michonne with them. He swallowed hard and cursed under his breath, knowing there wasn't much more he could do here. All he could hope for was that they had enough to get everyone back on their feet and keep anyone else from being infected. With a defeated sigh he brushed his hands back through his hair, ignoring the shake in his hands from exhaustion, and quickly made his way back to the wall.

After he dropped down onto the podium and leaned back against the pole his eyes closed unwillingly. He was exhausted, through and through. As he sat there his mind wandered to the past, to a time when things were different and better. He thought of his childhood. Growing up in Austin, Texas was simple enough. His father owned a ranch, raising livestock to sell off or send to slaughter. They made more than enough money to keep themselves happy as well pay for the hired hands. Of course, Conrad had had to help out more often than not.

He'd go to school, come home and do his homework, go out and help feed the cattle and muck out their stalls. When he was finished he would come inside and clean up before dinner, then help his mother with whatever chores she'd had for him before bed. Everyday was roughly the same, until he'd decided he wanted something more out of life than to own the ranch when his father was too old to do it anymore. One of his brothers could easily take over.

Conrad had come from a big family, his mother and father had started relatively young and by the time they'd finished building their family they had five strapping boys and two daughters, who could easily compete with any of their brothers. He tried not to think about his family too much, to think about whether or not any of them had survived this crazy world. If they had, God only knew what they were doing now.

When he was seventeen and graduated from school he'd gotten his fathers permission and signed up for the marines. Six months to his eighteenth birthday and he was in boot camp. Rigorous training that would forever be etched into his mind. Most days he still lived as if he were in the Marines, stillm4x fighting war that just couldn't be won. Conrad had been granted the ability to go home and see his mother and father and siblings for his eighteenth birthday, two days later he'd shipped out to Afghanistan.

The third world, where the terrorists lived. At least that was what he'd believed before. Once he got over there it wasn't difficult to see that so many of the people were just like Americans, albeit with less rights and certainly less technology. They weren't that different. Yeah, there was a good amount of people that they had to fight against, many people who fired on them or planted bombs in the road or in their Humvee's. Conrad remembered that at one point his younger brothers words had played through his head. _"Thing is, Conrad, you're going to be the terrorist. You're going into another guys land and taking things from him, you're firing on them. You can't expect them not to defend themselves."_ Sage logic from a kid of fifteen.

He sighed as he rubbed at his face, remembering so many friends falling over there. He watched so many people bleed out, so many people blown up and shot to death. Hell, some even died from something as simple as food poisoning or a scorpion sting. Of course, a good amount of men went out from dehydration, too. Some even turned on their friends, just to go home. Conrad had been told that he'd spent five years over and then he'd be home again. His five years stay turned to ten, then to twelve, then to fifteen. Had it not been for the bullet that had lodged itself in his skull he was certain he would have been over there when the dead started walking again.

It'd been nothing more than a peaceful day, working around base and taking care of the men. Lunch had finished and everyone was getting back to work, for him that meant training the new guys that had just been choppered in. Someone started firing on their base from beyond their fences. Many died, he didn't even know how many, a lot more were injured. He was struck and miraculously lived. The bullet apparently hadn't had the force to go through his helmet and skull and lodged itself firmly against the bone. He'd been Med-Evac'd home where they'd taken the bullet out in D.C. He'd gotten a medal and had gone to Florida only a couple of weeks later when he'd healed up enough to get out of the hospital. He was supposed to be flown back over the next day.. and then all hell broke loose.

The dead started walking again and the whole world went crazy.

He'd teamed up with a lot of people from the base, most were inexperienced and died a lot sooner than they should have. The only ones who lived past the first couple of weeks were the ones who'd had a couple years of training under their belts. In the end his whole group of well trained Marines died, or branched out to find their own things. Most were searching for their families, with little hope of finding them alive. In the end Conrad was left with Rosie and Gavin and a few others. They picked up stragglers along the way and finally wound up here. Everyone was too tired to keep walking and along the way they'd discussed finding a town and settling in. That was what they'd done.

They'd set up Terminus and more people stumbled across the place over time, adding to their community. Everyone was welcome, their pasts meant nothing now. After all, it wasn't as if they could actually find out if some of these people were truly good. Everyone had their demons, everyone had to deal with them. Terminus was a new beginning for everyone.

When their community was large enough they began making runs to find supplies while building the town, they picked up people along their raids and brought them home. They gave everyone a new life, the only thing in their past that mattered was their career. Doctors and farmers and military men united until Terminus was thriving. And now it was dying.

It hurt to know that the community he'd built–basically with his own two hands–was crumbling because of a disease that not only couldn't they control, but they couldn't figure out where the hell it had come from. He and Stookey had discussed the possibilities and in the end they came to no true conclusions, only speculations. Sammi's belief was that it had been nothing more than a cold or a flu that had mutated over time.

"_Viruses mutate all the time, Conrad. We're just used to having researchers who can find cures for them and study them until we're safe. We're used to having round the clock vaccinations and health care. Our bodies can't fight off things like they used to. Not anymore."_ She'd told him only a couple of days before. _"We just have to hope that the group comes back with something to help."_ Conrad was certain that she was only putting on a brave face, but she had no real hope of things going well.

If it weren't for the fact that he'd built this town, that he'd worked so hard to make everyone feel safe here Conrad would have taken those who weren't sick and left. Or at least, he'd considered it. Abandon ship and all that.

But he couldn't leave people behind, he couldn't just walk away from all this. No. What was that old saying? A captain always goes down with his ship? Sure, that was more literal toward captains and ships, but he was a Captain in the military and Terminus was his ship. If it were going to sink then he'd damn sure drown with it.

He'd been here for close to eighteen months and he'd poured his blood sweat and tears into this place, along with Sammi and so many others. He couldn't just walk away when shit got too hard.

A sigh slipped from his lips as he felt himself beginning to slip off toward dreamland and he'd had to jerk himself awake. Conrad climbed back to his feet to keep himself alert, though nearly stumbled once he was standing. He knew that he should rest, get some sleep, but it was difficult to do so when there was still another group out there and so many were still sick. He was still the head of the guard and that meant he needed to pick up any slack there might be.

"Hey." Sammi's voice caused him to jump as he turned quickly on the podium. The Hispanic doctor smiled lightly up at him, holding out a chipped plate of food toward him. "Didn't remember seeing you at dinner, figured you could use something to eat."

Since the infection had spread so much many people were just gathering together to eat their meals. It was simpler to just cook for the whole lot rather than just have people cooking in their homes. He smiled softly before settling back down in the seat he'd occupied only a few minutes before. "Thanks." He said while reaching out for the plate. Green beans and some rice were covering the plate, what looked like some pork sat off to the side. Probably the last of the pig Daryl had killed a couple of days back.

"You look exhausted, Conrad." She scolded and sighed at the same time. "Are you getting any sleep?" His shoulder rose and fell in response but didn't answer since his mouth was currently full of rice. The woman sat a canteen of water at his side and frowned, "you're no good to us if you're dead on your feet, you know?"

He nodded, now. "I know.. just.. I gotta keep an eye out, Sam." The woman frowned at the name he'd used, much preferring Sammi. Conrad was the only one she allowed to get away with calling her Sam.

"Anyone make it back yet?" She asked, knowing that it was a losing argument.

He nodded again and after swallowing the bite he'd taken pointed toward the quarantine building. "Sasha's group got back a couple of hours ago. Guard said Michonne's pretty sick, from the look of it, I don't know much more than that right now."

For a while the only sound that filled the air was his fork scraping across his plate as he ate slowly. When all that remained was a few specks of rice and the bone from his meat he set the plate off to the side and looked down at the pretty doctor. "How's things on your end?" He asked now.

The woman released a pent up sigh and shook her head tiredly. "Same old, same old, I guess. Everyone's worried about everyone else and themselves. It's hard not to be. I haven't seen them roll anyone out of quarantine since Daryl helped Bob the yesterday. Think things are slowing down in there?" She asked hopefully. Conrad's silence was enough and she rubbed at her face while shaking her head gently. "There's just not enough people to help bring out the dead anymore, is there?" She asked now.

Conrad shook his head and frowned. "Not really. When I talked to Stookey earlier it seemed like a lot of 'em in there are pretty much done for. I'm hoping things get better. Hell, I'm just prayin' they found the right meds to get everyone better." He stated while letting his gaze dance over the empty fields.

Sammi sighed softly in response and nodded. She, too, hoped that things would get better soon and that Sasha's group found what they needed to. A small gust of wind blew a chill through the air, sending a faint shiver down his spine before the woman's hair blew across his face. She flashed an apologetic smile before tying it back behind her head in a loose ponytail. Both shifted their eyes to the sky, storm clouds were forming on the horizon. Looked like everyone on duty, the few who were left, would get a good nights sleep. Couldn't see much through the rain. If it came.

That wasn't all on the horizon, either. "Conrad." Sammi's voice caused him to shift his gaze downward, looking toward the second set of headlights he'd seen that night. Just as Sasha's car had done, they veered off the road toward the trap door, the two men on the wall quickly raised it to allow them through as Conrad and Sammi climbed down the ladder. He rushed toward the van as the engine cut off and the doors opened. His brows furrowed, noting that they were two short.

"Where's Tyreese.. where's Jada?" He asked Gavin. The guard frowned and shook his head softly to indicate that neither made it back. Sammi rushed to Conrad's side, her dark eyes focused on Cole.

"Tell me you found medications while you were out there?" She plead. The jovial laughter from the group was cut off as they looked around, realizing just how empty the place seemed. Sure, it was night and most people would be in bed, but there were even fewer people than normal out.. actually, it looked almost like a ghost town. At least that was Cole and Gavin's thoughts.

Cole began to make his way to the hatch, smirking quickly at the doctor, "of course we did. Quite a bit, too."

"Good, give them here." Conrad quickly demanded causing everyone to pause.

Cole stood still at the back of the van without opening the door, once more his gaze darted around the immediate area a frown etching its way slowly onto his lips. Carol shifted her attention around as well. Of course she was still new, she didn't really realize how many people there should be awake, even at this time of night. Paul shifted uncomfortably while looking between the doctor and the captain. It was Gavin who spoke, his deep voice resonating as he stared at Conrad. "What's going on?"

Sammi and Conrad exchanged a quick look before the woman stepped forward, "is anyone in your group sick? A headache, a sniffle, a cough? Anything?" She asked and when they shook their heads she sighed in relief. At least one group was safe. "What happened to Tyreese and Jada?" She asked now.

The group quickly glanced between themselves before Gavin spoke, "we split up, though it was safe enough, they got hit by some walkers in an apartment. We didn't find out until it was too late.."

While it was disturbing news, Sammi and Conrad both breathed in relief, which only furthered the worry on Gavin's face. "What's going on, boss?" He asked now, staring hard at the Captain.

Conrad frowned and brushed a hand over his tired face. "Near everyone's sick. A lot of people have died already. Looks like y'all managed to escape it. Sasha and a few others went out to find meds, don't know how much they found or how much it's gonna help. Best you guys stay here for a little while. Camp out in the car."

"Come on, boss, I need a shower." Paul complained.

Conrad shot the man a quelling look before turning to the male doctor. "I need those meds, son." Without hesitating a moment longer Cole lifted the hatch and grasped the brown backpack. While Gavin had driven them back to Terminus he'd sorted the supplies to make it simpler to sort when they got back. He tossed the bag to Conrad before dropping down to sit in the small trunk space.

"Should I tell Beth?" Sammi asked as she walked alongside the male.

He considered it for a moment before shaking his head. "No, not yet. Let's find out what Stookey can do with this first."

The doctor sighed almost silently as she rushed to keep pace with him, "can I come with you?" So far she'd completely avoided the quarantine building, only because she was with Beth more often than not and didn't want to risk getting the girl, her unborn child or Judith sick.

Conrad quickly shook his head again. "No. Just in case this ain't what we need. Go fill in Cole." He instructed before parting ways with the pretty doctor.

It didn't take long for him to make it to quarantine, especially with as fast as he was walking to make good time. Once at the door he was gloved and masked before he was allowed to enter. As he walked through the halls he peered into various rooms, checking for where the good doctor could have gone. He passed by so many sick people, so many people that should have been alright. It hurt to see all these faces of people he knew and cared for. Each dead walker he passed only caused his heart to break a little further. Of course, seeing those who were still alive and able to walk gave a little relief, but not enough to stop the ache.

Conrad passed Daryl and Michonne and while both looked close to death, he was glad to see the two of them up and moving around. It made things a little better to know that two people he'd grown close to might make it out of all this craziness. He continued walking, unaware that the two were behind him, and peeking in rooms until at last he found Stookey, surrounded by Sasha, Maggie and Glenn.

They glanced up as he entered, the doctor's brows furrowing. "What's going on Conrad?" He asked from behind the mask.

A smile pulled Conrad's lips as he held the backpack out toward the doctor. "Cole's group just returned, with a lot of meds."

Bob's eyes widened, quickly snatching the back from the other male's hands to flip it open. After dumping the contents onto the table he'd been working at he laughed. Without a word to anyone he leaped from the chair, cheering and whooping loudly. While he laughed he ripped the mask from his face, grabbed Sasha and pulled her close to kiss her deeply. The woman stood in shock for a moment, barely returning the embrace when he pulled away. "I'm guessing there's enough now?" She asked, sounding slightly stunned.

"More than enough.. We'll even have extra antibiotics." He replied cheerfully.

Sasha turned her gaze now toward Conrad. "So, Tyreese is back?"

**–**

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	38. Judge, Jury & Executioner

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: Once more I have gotten a lot of hate about how I've portrayed Carol and the fact that Tyreese is now dead. I'm not going to bring up old arguments, I am simply going to say this: It is _The Walking Dead_ people are bound to die, even our favorites. So, if you don't want to read, that's fine but don't send me hate-mail.**

–

Daryl grinned over at Michonne as Bob whooped and cheered happily with the knowledge that they would now have enough medicine to cure everyone and vaccinate those who hadn't caught it. His worry from less than half an hour before was gone, replaced by hope. He prayed to hell and back he could be back with Beth before the night was out. The simple thought brought a wider smile to his lips. He couldn't wait to be home, to hold onto Beth again. For some reason his mind envisioned the girl's stomach having doubled in size again, even though it'd been less than two days since he'd seen her. It simply felt as if he'd been away so much longer. He just couldn't believe that this nightmare could be over soon.

It was a bit of a miracle that Bob hadn't gotten sick at all through this since he'd been in here with all of the infected for over a week. It was amazing that Conrad hadn't gotten sick either, with running in and out of here frequently to help Bob or bring supplies or haul out the dead. A small frown washed over his face as he looked back out into the hall where the dead seemed to line the wall. So many people had been lost, he couldn't count of just how many. The only positive thing was that it could be corrected now. And hopefully they could prevent it from happening again, or at least would have the medications to stop if from getting to this scale again.

Sasha turned her gaze now toward Conrad, her voice bringing Daryl from his own thoughts. "So Tyreese is back?" She asked the Captain with a wide smile. The reminder of Tyreese being back also brought another little grin. If Tyreese was back, Carol was gone. Excellent. One more thing to celebrate tonight. Michonne elbowed his arm and flashed a stern glare his way, warning him to knock the silly grin from his lips.

It didn't matter because Conrad didn't even glance his way, instead the blonde male's gaze danced toward the floor with a frown playing over his lips. The male fell silent long enough for Sasha's brows to furrow in concern. "Tyreese is back, right?" She asked while taking a step closer to the Captain.

Daryl saw Conrad swallow hard and shifted his gaze briefly toward Michonne who didn't even look at him. Her eyes were locked on the side of Conrad's face, her expression serious. All the laughter and joy from only moments before seemed to seep out of the room in waves, leaving no happiness in it's wake. "Conrad. Where is my brother?" Sasha asked while the tears formed in her dark eyes.

She already knew, it was plain on her expression. She knew that something bad had happened, bad things always happened. The woman stepped forward and grasped Conrad's arms as he looked at her. "I'm sorry, Sasha.." he murmured. He couldn't say much more because he really didn't know much more.

"Oh god.." she sobbed and shook her head. Instantly scenarios began playing through her head of how it had happened. The brunette felt the floor grow closer as her knees gave out. Had Conrad not been standing close enough she probably would have dropped solidly. Twice today he'd had to keep someone from crashing to the ground. Bob began to stand to aide the woman but she quickly shook her head, pulling herself away from Conrad at the same time.

She'd obviously regained her bearings enough to sort her thoughts out. "Get to work." She commanded the doctor. Daryl watched the woman from across the room, watching the expressions play across her features. There was shock and grief, then everything shifted to fury. When she shoved away from Conrad and began making her way toward the door, Daryl knew what was on her mind.

All it took was for him to see the look on her pretty face and he knew what was going through her head. Carol. Weak as he was, Daryl still shifted to block her path, barring her access. "Get out of my way, Daryl." She seethed through her teeth. He said nothing in response, merely shook his head. "Don't make me knock you on your ass, Dixon, MOVE!" She shouted the last word.

Again, he shook his head at her, "not right now." He murmured low enough that Conrad could barely hear him, his dark eyes locked onto her face.

Her fingers curled against her palm, nails digging deep into her flesh. Daryl watched her nostrils flare in anger as her eyes narrowed darkly. She looked as though she would slug him and he honestly believed that if she did, she would literally knock him on his ass. He was so weak that it took more energy than he ever would have believed to stand in front of that doorway, to stand at full height and not crumple to the floor or reach out to grasp the door to keep from falling.

Truthfully, he was thankful when Michonne stepped in front of him and narrowed her dark eyes right back at the grieving woman. "You've been exposed. You can't leave until Bob is done." She stared the woman down and after a few moments Sasha stepped back with a grunt of frustration. Without another word she walked to stand beside Bob as he got down to business.

Conrad stared between Michonne and Daryl for several moments before shifting his gaze toward Sasha. Sure, he knew of the little bit of drama between Daryl and Carol, but he never would have suspected it was rooted so deeply into their group. Even now, he didn't seem to realize it. His brows furrowed lightly before shaking his head. "Alright, Stookey, about how long you think it'll take?" The male asked.

Bob glanced up for a moment toward the Captain, then toward Sasha with a frown on his full lips. "About two hours before I can start vaccinating people. We'll start in here. Everyone that leaves here's going to need a good shower and their old clothes burned."

"Might as well torch the buildin'." Daryl muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Bob smirked faintly, "I was actually thinking the same thing. It's not really going to be safe to allow anyone else in here, just in case." Conrad nodded in agreement, then waited for the male to continue. "Whenever we're done with everyone here we'll start vaccinating everyone on the outside."

"I'll have Sammi get Beth and the baby around." The captain stated and began to back toward the door.

Bob quickly shook his head to stop him, "no."

"No!?" Daryl's defenses went up, pushing off the wall and stepping closer to the male now. "What'chu mean, no?!"

The doctor quickly raised his hands in surrender while shaking his head, "we don't know that this is safe on pregnant women or babies. I'm not going to test it." A heavy sigh fell from Daryl's lips, feeling his hopes of going home vanishing rapidly. He wanted to see the little blonde so badly and just knowing that he would be away from her any longer was painful. Of course, he understood why now that Bob had explained it but that didn't make him like it. "Look, I promise you'll be able to see her by tomorrow night at the latest."

That knowledge only made him sigh even more. _'Great, a whole day,'_ he grumbled to himself while taking a step back. Glenn settled himself in the seat beside Bob, quickly beginning to look over everything they had. While he didn't remember everything, he figured he could at least help. With a frown, Sasha crouched beside the table and grabbed the bottles from Bob and began to search through them. Maggie frowned, knowing that she couldn't even go home yet either.

"Alright.. what do you need us to do?" Michonne asked now, her eyes on Bob.

The doctor glanced around the room for a moment at each of their faces. "Conrad, get whoever you can to help you round up clothes for people, find whatever soap you can and a way for everyone to shower and get out of their old clothes so that they can be clean. Set up another place for everyone to go when they're done here. It's still quarantine just with less security." He clarified to the male. The Captain nodded quickly, then stepped passed Michonne and Daryl to get himself to work.

"Michonne, Daryl, Maggie and Glenn. If you guys have the energy start rounding people up. Put the sickest in the room closest to me so I can get to them first, the healthiest at the end of the hall. Leave the dead where- Michonne?" His brows furrowed as he looked to the warrior.

All eyes quickly shifted toward the woman who had begun coughing harshly with one hand gripping the door frame and the other over her mouth. Daryl spotted easily that the hand grasping the wall was white knuckled and was certain that if she weren't holding on she would have dropped from the force of her coughing. Without hesitation he stepped forward and wrapped an arm around her waist for added support, though he was certain that if she did fall he wouldn't be able to hold her up.

The warrior continued coughing until they'd become so violent that she vomited. At the sight of the blood pouring from the woman's mouth Daryl nearly released his hold on her in shock. When the warrior's shoulders stopped heaving she panted quietly, slowly shifting her unfocused gaze toward Daryl. Her brows furrowed slightly as if she were confused about something before her legs gave out and she slipped into unconsciousness.

Daryl grunted quietly while trying to support her weight and his own, mostly to keep her from falling into the pool of her own blood. "Michonne? Wake up, dammit." He commanded. A pair of arms quickly hefted the woman out of his grip just before he collapsed. Michonne's head lolled off of Glenn's arm as the male looked toward Bob and Sasha.

"What are you waiting for?" He asked loudly. Sasha panted quietly as she hurriedly turned back to their work, the doctor nodded and got busy while Maggie followed after her husband.

–

After settling Michonne into a cot in the room beside the doctor Glenn and Maggie did the heavy lifting and moved everyone who'd been coughing blood or looked very close to their deaths to the same room as Michonne. Any dead were dispatched and left where they fell while Daryl began slowly moving those who were still able to walk a little more freely closer to the front of the building.

He was surprisingly relieved to note that Rosie was still kicking–barely, but she was still there. Unlike helping with much of any other heavy lifting, Daryl helped the little red-head to her feet and allowed her to lean against him while he supported her until she was close. The woman nearly broke into tears when he'd told her that the medicine was here and it wouldn't be too much longer. She was terrified that she was going to die before the sun rose and now she had the chance to live again.

It was slow work, gathering everyone up and getting them into place. Especially since Daryl could hardly keep himself upright. He was afraid to sleep, though, he was worried that if he did he wouldn't wake back up and that just wasn't something Daryl could accept. The only thing that kept pushing him forward was Beth and the baby, the realization that he'd be able to see them soon. While it wasn't as soon as he would have liked it was better than nothing. He would at least be able to see her at all.

By the time Daryl was certain everyone was where they should be he began to walk back toward where Bob and Sasha were working. He fought to ignore the way the hallway spun, disorienting him as he walked. His hand brushed along the wall, just to be certain he was walking straight. When his shoulder collided with the doorway Daryl allowed that to be his resting point, not certain he could walk any further anyway. Maggie and Glenn had gone to keep an eye on the deathly sick, making sure none of them turned.

While leaning against the door frame Daryl began to feel much like he had earlier that day, sluggish and hardly able to open his eyes as he watched the two work. It felt like hours later that someone was forcing a cup into his hands. Slowly the redneck opened his eyes and looked toward Sasha as the woman helped him to drink down whatever it was that she and Bob had worked on. She smiled faintly and rubbed his arm before stepping away to go and help someone else. He leaned against the wall and allowed his eyes to fall shut again.

–

Beth had barely fallen asleep an hour ago before a hand shook her awake. The touch was soft enough that she assumed it to be her sister. The thought of her sister being back with meds brought a wide smile to her lips as she forced herself awake. Her pale blue eyes widened with shock as she saw the petite woman standing beside her bed. _'Not Maggie,'_ she thought quickly while planning an escape route. Of course, she couldn't simply roll out of bed and make a dash for the door, her swollen belly didn't allow for rolling anymore.

Instead the young blonde began to build a scream, surely someone would be close enough to hear. A part of her worried it was just a dream, another insane nightmare that she was having because Daryl wasn't beside her. It was easy to worry less when he was close by. But with him being locked in quarantine and having worked on the wall so much lately Beth's panic had slowly begun to build.

Just as her lips parted to scream a glint of silver caught her attention and she quickly looked toward it. A lethal looking dagger was clutched in Carol's hand as she stared down at the blonde. "What do you want?" Beth asked, slowly shifting herself on the bed in the attempt to sneak her way to the door.

"The same thing I wanted before, dear." The woman replied almost sweetly.

The blonde crept closer to the other side of the bed, her eyes locked on the woman. "They'll know it was you. If anything happens to me they'll know."

Carol laughed under her breath and shook her head. "Oh, Beth. No one will have any idea. Just like no one suspects me for poor Tyreese."

Her brows furrowed in concern at the thought of something having happened to Tyreese. Of course, she knew of the plan and while she didn't fully approve, she also couldn't disagree with it. As she neared the other end of the bed Carol 'tsked' quietly and walked fast around the bed while pulling a gun from the waistband of her jeans. "No, no. Don't think me a fool, it'll just end this a lot quicker than you or I want it to." She informed. After replacing the gun into her jeans she reached out and tangled a hand into the blonde curls, roughly pulling the girl from her bed.

"One sound and this goes right through you." The woman stated, pointedly jabbing the sharp tip of her blade against Beth's stomach. "Walk." She ordered the girl, still clutching her hair.

The little blonde fought against the tight grip in her hair with a little grunt, moving slowly. As she wrapped her arms protectively around her stomach the girl quickly formed a plan in her head to get herself out of this. Her weapons were mostly back in the bedroom on the nightstand, she hadn't had the ability to grab them. Daryl's spare hunting knife sat on the window ledge about six feet to her right. Too far out of reach.

She panted softly before an idea struck. "What'd you do to Tyreese?" She asked, assuming that if she got Carol talking the woman wouldn't have the chance to slip outside and it would give her the chance to, hopefully, get to a weapon. Or for someone to realize Carol was missing.

Carol chuckled under her breath, "what do you think?"

"You killed him? Why?" Beth felt the tears sting her eyes and hastily wiped them away.

Carol scoffed and shook her head. "Why? WHY!? Because he was going to kill me! Does everyone around here think I'm stupid!?" She snapped, clutching Beth's hair just a little tighter in her fist.

Carol's raised voice had brought on another sound that made Beth's breath catch in her throat. It started as nothing more than a whimper, then gradually built until Judith was screaming. Beth knew that the child hated being awoken. It was almost like torture for little Judith to be awake when she didn't want to be, even more so when she was startled from her sleep.

The elder woman shifted, frowning darkly as she looked toward the crib where Judith stood clutching the side. The almost-toddler yelled loudly as she shook the railing on her crib in anger. "Someone will hear.." Carol murmured, almost as if she'd been finishing a thought from in her head. She shoved Beth forward, releasing her hair at the same time. "Shut her up." She snapped.

The blonde stumbled with the force she was pushed and grasped the side of the crib to keep herself from falling as well as slamming into it. Her arms quickly wound around the child, pulling her from her crib. Turning so that she could keep her eyes on the silver-haired woman, Beth rocked Judith carefully, shushing the child.

Judith screamed in her ear and clenched her little fingers into Beth's shirt as she fought to stay awake. It helped that she was so easily soothed by Beth since the pregnant woman had taken care of her since birth. While Beth continued to stare at Carol she continued trying to form a plan to get away. Several things ran through her head but none seemed likely. Run to Maggie's room? No. That left Judith out here alone with Carol. Same with hiding in her room or the bathroom. The kitchen didn't have another exit for her to go through. The only options were the front door in Carol's clutches.

But this time she wouldn't go unarmed. She couldn't. There was too much at stake.

She watched the elder woman's impatience grow as she lulled the child back to sleep. Beth placed a gentle kiss against Judith's temple in apology before pinching the little girl's leg hard enough that she cried again. Beth hated hurting the little one, but she needed her to scream for a little longer. She needed just a few more minutes. Judith wailed loudly in her ear and Beth continued to rock her as if nothing had happened.

"Why is she still screaming?" Carol asked loud enough to be heard over the crying.

Beth shook her head quickly, "because she's fighting going back to sleep. She always fights it now." The blonde gently bounced the baby in her arms, murmuring a gentle apology as she slowly began to walk her around the room. _'Please let this work',_ she prayed silently. Carol watched her closely, ready to move at the first sign of the little blonde making an attempt to run. When Beth drew close to her room again she heard the click of a gun cocking and closed her eyes for a moment to regain her breath.

After swallowing hard she bounced the baby gently in her arms and walked straight passed her bedroom, her blue gaze landing on her gun and knife on the stand beside the bed. Too far out of reach. That wasn't what she'd been planning to go for anyway. She gently clutched the baby to her chest as Judith began to drift off to sleep in her arms. Beth continued to walk around the room with the baby, ignoring the fact that she could feel Carol's gun trained on her skull. She knew that all it would take was one movement, one wrong twitch and that gun would go off.

Her gaze lowered to the hunting knife on the window ledge, barely hidden by the thin curtain. The blonde swallowed hard as she turned and settled her behind on the edge of the window, still rocking the baby as she watched Carol. "So, you killed Tyreese?" She asked, once more getting the woman to talk. Carol said nothing, merely allowed her brows to raise in an 'of course' sort of expression. "How? With Cole, Gavin, Paul and Jada there?"

"It was simple, really. We split off into groups of twos to check apartments that Gavin believed were clear enough that everyone could get some supplies without having to worry. It really played to my advantage that there was already a walker in Paul and my assigned apartment. I knocked him out, killed it and then found Tyreese and Jada. Again, it was to my advantage that there were walkers locked in the bathroom.

"It was easy enough to kill the both of them and then let the walkers through to them before rushing back to Paul." Carol reminisced. As the woman spoke Beth reached one hand behind her and grasped the knife. She kept her panicked breathing to herself while tucking the cool metal into the waistband of her jeans and quickly pulling her shirt over the handle to hide it. Carol was lost enough in her words that she hadn't noticed the movement. "And then I woke Paul and we met up with Cole and Gavin. I played innocent enough that they never expected me.

"Though, I imagine everyone is going to know soon enough, won't they?" She murmured with a frown tracing her lips and a far off sort of expression on her features. Beth shifted away from the window, the movement enough to snap the elder woman back to attention. "Good, she's asleep. Lay her down and lets go." She demanded while keeping the gun trained on Beth's head.

The blonde took in a quiet breath as she leaned down to kiss Judith's head once more, then laid her gently into her crib. She swallowed hard again before stepping closer to Carol. The nerves she felt for what she was about to do were easily misconstrued as fear by the other woman, and for that Beth was grateful.

**–**

**Reviews?**


	39. Triggerfinger

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I know I tend to leave things on cliffhangers, I do not apologize. I've had a lot of people tell me it's cruel or mean, but.. it just makes the story that much more intense. Leaves you all hanging on the edge of your seat for the next chapter! Thanks to everyone who reads and reviews, it's so greatly appreciated and it makes me want to continue writing. There have been several times when I've considered finding a decent end and just letting this story go but knowing how many of you are enthralled by it helps to keep the fuel going. And thank you to everyone who sent their love with the last chapter, hearing how much everyone's enjoyed it makes me happy!**

**Any other ideas that people might have for a plot, please feel free to PM me!**

–

Beth took in a deep breath when she was only a few feet away from Carol, still out of the woman's reach but it wasn't as if that mattered too much with the gun trained on her head. Her pale gaze flitted between the barrel of the gun and the woman's face. Finally, Carol sighed impatiently, "come on. We haven't got all night." She barked quiet enough not to disturb Judith, yet loud enough that Beth jumped in terror. She could feel the sharp edges of the hunting knife digging into her back as she moved slowly toward the woman.

Her prayer was that she'd be fast enough to do what needed done. For only the briefest of moments the girl wondered if they would actually kick her out of Terminus for this. After only a second she realized that she didn't care. She and Daryl had managed for a year before Terminus, they could do it again. She closed her eyes for only a moment before stepping in front of the older woman, watching her closely now.

Carol rolled her eyes before grasping her shoulder painfully hard and steering her toward the door. "So how are you going to do this so that no one thinks it was you? Make it look like I just ran away?" She asked now, stalling.

"Like I said before," her voice sounded from behind, Beth could hear the smirk on the woman's lips, "I'm not stupid. The way Sammi made it sound Daryl got sick yesterday, earlier this morning, whatever. So.. I'm just going to make it look like you got sick too."

"H-how?" Beth asked with a faint gasp. Was it really that easy to fake?

"A few simple cuts in the right places to get the blood flowing, then you'll go. Don't worry, it won't be too painful."

Beth couldn't believe that Carol could make murder sound so simple. The woman made it sound as if she were actually attempting to console her, which only made the idea of walking out the door all the more terrifying for the young blonde. She rubbed her hand across her stomach, the baby more active now than it had been in days. Perhaps her accelerated heart rate was driving the baby to move, she wasn't sure and wished she could ask Sammi. Unfortunately, she wasn't going to be able to get close enough to the doctor yet.

"How can you be so cold?" The girl asked now.

Carol said nothing in response, simply pushed Beth forward before opening the door. "Go." She snapped, releasing the girl's shoulder long enough to turn and close the door. As soon as Carol's grip lessened Beth reacted. Her thin hand reached behind her and quickly grasped the hunting knife, ignoring the pain that shot up her spine as the blade scraped across her back. The blonde didn't allow herself time to think about what she was going to do as she lurched forward, driving the blade into Carol's stomach.

The woman gasped in shock as her eyes widened when she glanced down at the blade, buried deeply into her stomach. With a grunt Beth ripped the knife back, then slammed it forward once more. Carol gasped again before raising the arm that held her gun. She aimed it upward toward Beth's chin. Having seen it coming the blonde yanked the blade back out and tossed it to the ground with a clatter, hoping to keep it away from Carol, just in case.

As soon as her hands were free she jerked them up to push the gun away from her face. She screamed when it fired with a loud blast close to her ear, muting all sound on that side. Beth was surprised that Carol was still so strong with the blood leaking from her stomach. It didn't matter, someone would have heard the shot, she just had to fend the woman off long enough for help to arrive.

"You stupid little bitch!" Carol growled and swung her right fist toward Beth's cheek.

The girl hadn't seen that one coming or she might have been better prepared. As it was the solid punch against her jaw sent her mind reeling and she was forced to take a step back from Carol. Her eyes squeezed shut tightly, trying to refocus her mind. When they opened again it was to see that the elder woman had shifted her free arm over the wounds to her stomach, the other hand still held tightly to the gun.. which was now squarely pointed at Beth's head.

The pregnant woman sucked in a sharp breath, knowing this was her end. She murmured a silent 'I love you' to Daryl, hoping that he would be okay after all of this. The knife was too far for her to get to fast enough, she had no other weapon and Carol would get a shot off before Beth could run far enough away. She knew that it was over, there was nothing left for her to do but accept it.

It hurt more than she allowed to show to have to accept it. She wasn't going to give Carol the satisfaction of seeing her cry, not here at the end. Begging would be futile as the woman had had it in her head for months that she would kill Beth when she could. No, all that was left was acceptance. She forced her breathing to slow down, then closed her eyes and stood waiting. When the shot rang out she cringed, knowing that any second she would feel the pain. Any second it would be over.

–

Conrad had pulled Rick out of a deep sleep with the information that both Sasha and Cole's groups had returned with medications, that within a couple of hours everyone would be fine again. He just had to help gather up clothing for everyone's showers. As tired as he was, Rick still hauled himself off the couch he'd claimed as a bed and yanked Carl along with him. The younger male was a lot easier to rouse and certainly a lot more chipper about it.

Rick severely missed a good strong cup of coffee. Not like it mattered much in the end, though. Coffee was bad for you. He rubbed his hands tiredly across his face while instructing his son to go start finding clothing for people. How they were going to arrange showers for everyone was a big question and he hoped to hell and back there was enough water in the community to spare.

When he stepped up to Cole's van he looked over the group gathered. Sammi and Conrad were giving instructions to the few who were actually there. He didn't see Carol or Tyreese. Since no one had told him any differently he assumed that Tyreese had done the job he was supposed to and was currently inside quarantine helping his sister. It seemed the most logical thing to him anyway.

As Paul began to work out a shower system with Conrad and Gavin, Sammi began gathering up as much soap as she could into a basket to disperse to the people who came out. Rick turned to go help with gathering clothes, figuring it was the best he could do to help right now. He'd barely taken three steps when the shot rang out, his brows furrowed quickly, looking back to the group behind him. All of them had fallen silent as their gaze danced around.

"Where's Carol?" Gavin asked when he realized the woman wasn't in view, "she was right behind me.."

Without hesitating for even a second Rick checked that his pistol was still strapped to his side before running toward Beth's. If Carol wasn't here then Tyreese hadn't done the job. Rick hoped like hell that the male was in quarantine with his sister. There was only one place Carol could be. The woman would never have put herself into the quarantine unit unless she were truly sick. No, there was only one place she could have gone and that was to finish what she'd started months ago. That meant Beth.

The thought sent a sharp shiver down his spine because he knew that Judith was there as well. It was simply safer for his daughter to be with Beth right now. The blonde was in a quarantine of her own, technically, which meant that she would be safe from the infection and Judith needed to be just as safe. He'd entrusted Beth with her because Judith trusted her, she'd been looking after the infant since birth, after all.

His boots barely seemed to make a noise on the cracked asphalt as he ran. He barely heard the sounds of others running on his tail. Most likely Conrad, Gavin and Sammi. If any of them had the sense to realize that Beth and Daryl wouldn't have lied about Carol's lack of sanity, that is. Rick couldn't understand how no one had really realized it before. Sure, Conrad was trusting and Sammi sure seemed to be but that didn't warrant their lack of listening skills. Rick had told Conrad as well that the woman was unhinged.

Conrad simply tried to believe to the best of his ability that there was some good in everyone and that once they saw the community their past deeds could be forgiven. While Rick understood this idea, it was nothing more than a romantic notion that didn't survive very long when applied to real life. Especially given their circumstances currently. It didn't make things work too well. Although, he supposed if he put enough thought into it, Conrad had made it work for the last year-year and a half.

Then again, it was all too likely they'd never had a group like theirs either. The way Sammi explained it most people who'd gotten separated from their groups stood no chance of meeting back up with them. The prison group's reunion was a bit of a one-in-a-million shot. Rick understood that, at least.

It seemed to take hours for him to run from Cole's van to Beth's house, when it really only took about a minute and a half. When he skidded to a halt on the other side of the street he could see Beth with her back to the street, facing Carol who held a gun.. and had it pointed at the blonde's head. As he had done more times than he could remember while on the force, and several since the world fell to pieces, Rick quickly raised his revolver, took aim and fired.

Perhaps Carol had thought she'd have more time or maybe she was waiting for someone to come and end her. He wasn't really sure. All he knew was that within seconds of pulling the trigger the woman's head snapped backward and she crumbled to the concrete porch. His shot had landed right between Carol's eyes, blowing out a good portion of her skull.

Beth stood stock still as if in shock. Rick didn't realize until he lowered the gun that he was panting heavily. Only a few seconds seemed to have passed before someone pushed passed him and rushed across the street. One look showed the black braid bouncing on Sammi's back as she ran toward the pregnant woman.

–

The blonde stood waiting, waiting for the pain to show somewhere, to radiate until it was incapacitating. Of course, the gun had been aimed at her head so perhaps there would be no pain. This wasn't dying. She'd almost died on the farm when she'd, stupidly, tried to kill herself. That had been painful, every breath seemed to hurt. Although, she reminded herself, that had been slow. Perhaps with a bullet to the brain it wouldn't be so bad.. she'd just.. go.

And then she heard the thud and her eyes shot wide, staring at the blood and brain matter that covered the door. She heard Judith's cries from inside the house and the thudding of boots along the ground behind her. Almost instantly tears sprang to her eyes as realization washed over her. She wasn't dead. She was here, alive and fine.

Beth turned just as Sammi made it onto the porch and felt herself collapse into the older woman's arms as she sobbed. Her arms wound around the doctor to clutch her close before other voices hit her ears. Carl, Conrad, Rick, Gavin. At least those were the ones she recognized. There were others, but none that mattered much to her at the moment. Rick gently combed a hand back through Beth's hair before rushing into the house to console his screaming daughter.

It took close to twenty minutes for her to calm herself down enough to pull away from the Hispanic woman who continued to comb her fingers back through the girls hair. Her pale blue gaze landed on Conrad as she hiccuped quietly, "are.. are you going to send me away?" She asked, fighting not to cry again. She knew it was illogical to worry about it right now and she knew that she sounded like a child for asking, but she couldn't help herself.

The Captain smirked and shook his head softly. "Well, technically you didn't kill her." He stated while glancing toward Rick who was coddling the baby girl to his chest. "I think this time around we'll make an exception."

His calm tone made Beth smile softly as she nodded at him. Slowly, her gaze turned back toward Carol's body and she sniffled quietly. "She said she killed Tyreese." The girl murmured without taking her gaze off the fallen woman. Beth recalled how she used to idolize Carol, she'd seemed so strong, so confident in herself. Even after everything with her own daughter.

A few people exchanged glances that she didn't see as her gaze seemed to be focused solely on the woman. Beth felt a firm kick against her ribs and glanced down at her stomach, carefully rubbing it as if to soothe her unborn child. Spotting this, Sammi instantly reacted, "you okay? She didn't hit you or anything, did she?" The woman asked, her hands touching Beth's swollen stomach.

The blonde smiled softly and shook her head, "no.. well, she did but not there. She punched me in the face after the gun went off." Her jaw still throbbed painfully but it was dull in comparison to the knowledge of how bad things could have been. Hearing Carl's voice behind her, Beth's brows furrowed slightly, only now realizing that his voice was muffled on the side the gun had went off on. Actually, now that she thought about it, everything on the left side was muffled. Beth raised a hand to rub at her ear, hoping to stimulate it and bring the sound back.

"The bullet didn't hit you, did it?" Carl repeated his question to the pregnant woman when he realized she hadn't heard him.

She shook her head sharply, turning her gaze toward the doctor. "It went off right next to my head though," she frowned.

"Having a little trouble hearing?" Sammi asked with a sad smile. When Beth nodded gently she did the same in turn, "it might come back in a couple of hours." She stated, though wasn't completely hopeful. Usually with that kind of trauma to the eardrum it never really healed. It wasn't as if there were much she could do to help the girl with it, either. Not in this time.

Beth glanced around a moment before back to Rick. "So they're back? Everyone?" She asked, her brows raising in concern.

Conrad nodded and offered a little smile from beside her, "yeah, and they got enough medicine to help everyone out too. Shouldn't be much longer. Thinking of, we need to get back to work." He stated to indicate that everyone needed to get back to their assigned tasks. Rick pressed a gentle kiss against Judith's temple before passing her to Carl.

"Stay here with Beth." He instructed his son. After the two had been ushered into the house Conrad set to work on gathering Carol's body up. He figured if they were going to burn down the quarantine building, might as well send her out too. Rick stared at the blood and brain on the wall and door, frowning darkly. If only people had listened sooner. If only Daryl had shot Carol before she'd climbed over the wall. There were a lot of 'if onlys' and 'what ifs' that played through his mind. Not the least of which being Tyreese would still be alive. It hurt quite a bit to know that he'd helped to orchestrate the plan that should have taken Carol out.. instead it had ended a good man's life. "I'll clear out the blood before it stains," he told the Captain now.

Conrad nodded faintly and Rick went in search of a bucket to gather some water in.

–

He grunted quietly as a hand roughly shook his shoulder, nearly causing him to stumble and fall away from the wall. Daryl wasn't really sure how long he'd been asleep, but it looked as though the sky were darker almost that inky black right before sunrise. A frown tugged on his lips as he forced his eyes open, landing on Glenn who stared up at him impatiently. "Are you okay?"

Daryl raised a hand to rub at his tired face before nodding softly, "mhm," he grunted. "Wha's goin' on?" He asked now.

"Everyone in quarantine has gotten their medicine, Bob and Sasha have taken theirs and are both getting ready to go start giving it to everyone on the outside, too. Most everyone who can walk has already went out and showered and changed clothes." Glenn stated while glancing around the hall. After Daryl rubbed at his face again to try waking himself even further he did the same. The hall was relatively empty, save for the dead that lay just about everywhere, leaving a nasty smell in their wake. "Conrad needs us to start gathering up the rest so we can get rid of this building."

"Where's Michonne?" He wondered aloud. His dark eyes danced around, hoping like hell the warrior was going to be alright.

Glenn pointed to the room they'd deposited the deathly sick into earlier, the ones who couldn't walk on their own, the ones who'd been only inches from their own deaths. "She's still not awake." The younger male said with a frown tugging at his lips. Naturally, he was just as worried as Daryl about the woman. "We need to get the rest of the people out."

Daryl took in a breath and nodded. He carefully pushed himself away from the wall, moving slowly enough that he could get his bearings before following behind Glenn. There were still four people left laying on the cots, Rosie and Michonne among them. Maggie was currently aiding a blonde female to her feet, the woman only seemed partially aware of what was happening around her.

"So how're we doin' this shower thing with these people?" He asked Glenn now.

The male pointed toward the front of the building where Maggie was leading the woman. "They're basically just dumping buckets of water on people, soaping them up and then dumping more to rinse them. Everyone is stripping down, drying off quickly and putting on fresh clothes before taken to the new quarantine across the street. Pretty simple really. It's about all they could do."

Daryl nodded gently before looking to the three left. Glenn stepped forward and tucked his arms under Rosie's back to rouse the red-head and help her to her feet. She barely looked able to stand at all, but with her arm draped around the young man's shoulders she made it to her feet. A frown etched it's way to Daryl's lips, knowing he'd never get the chance to actually haul either of the two unconscious people to their feet like everyone else was doing. He was still weak and extremely tired.

He had to pitch in, though and what better way than getting his friend on her feet and out of this hell hole? Daryl leaned down and shook Michonne's shoulder much like Glenn had with his only a few minutes before. "Come on, girl," he ordered while trying to pull her up like Glenn had done.

Slowly Michonne opened her eyes and turned to face him with a small frown tugging at her lips. "What happened?" She asked hoarsely.

Daryl chuckled and shook his head as he helped the warrior up. "E'erybody should be good now." He told her in a quiet voice.

**–**

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	40. The Oath

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language, Feels!**

**Authors Note: I have to send my thanks and appreciation to CherryMountain who helped to make this chapter possible. I think I turn to this girl anytime I have a dilemma with this story and I am so thankful that she does not mind assisting me in my crisis moments. They don't come often but when they do they are near catastrophic with this story. I wind up turning so many directions sometimes that my poor brain doesn't quite know which way to go. If not for my lovely fanfic girly I would probably crash and burn. So, again, a shout out to CherryMountain for all of her assistance, even if it's just to talk me through my insane ramblings.**

**Also, I would love to dedicate this chapter to the lovely Anne Kean, who is probably one of the biggest fans of this story. I truly appreciate every reader, everyone who spends the time to read my story and send their love to me. I thank everyone. I hope this chapter sends some good feelings your way, Anne. **

–

Beth had tried to stay awake with Carl and Judith, who had fallen back to sleep almost as soon as her brother had settled into Glenn's recliner with her resting her tiny head on his shoulder. She'd laid on the couch and talked with the boy, who was steadily becoming anything but. Carl was most certainly entering manhood and she wasn't the least bit ashamed to admit that he was growing more attractive by the day. It wouldn't be long before some girl claimed his heart for her own.

The two had talked about various things while the blonde settled down after her encounter with Carol, including the depressing demise of Tyreese and how neither could wait for the antidote to begin circling the community. Carl had leaned back in the recliner while patting Judith's back gently as he talked about some game he and Michonne had played before they'd been separated and the warrior had wound up in Terminus.

Beth was fairly certain that Carl had a crush on the older woman, not that she could blame him. Michonne was pretty spectacular. As he continued to talk, the pregnant woman drifted off to sleep on the couch with the baby kicking her in the ribs. For the first time in a long time she slept peacefully, without horrid dreams or worries. The only reasons she wasn't completely at peace was the fact that Daryl was still gone and the couch had a spring that seemed to be making an attempt at escaping to stab into her ankle, plus the scratch along her spine.

Carl had looked at it earlier, informing her that it was barely a flesh wound and she should have considered herself lucky. Truth be told, she felt like the luckiest person in the world at this point. Had it not been for Rick's quick thinking after he'd heard the shot she would be dead right now. It was actually pretty terrifying to think that she could be dead right now.

When her eyes fluttered open with a yawn stretching her lips the blonde frowned at the sky, noting it was barely light out. _'Great, I slept for all of thirty minutes,'_ she groaned before sitting up. Carl and Judith weren't in the chair anymore, the whole house quiet. Her brows furrowed slightly as she forced herself to sit up, gently rubbing her stomach.

After a quick trip to the bathroom the girl rubbed at her sore jaw and began searching the house. Beth wouldn't have assumed that Carl would have taken Judith out of the house until they were sure there was no danger in being outside around the infected. He must have, though because there was no one here. The whole house was completely and utterly empty. The blonde frowned as she looked around, wondering if this were the start of another nightmare.

And then she heard it. The sound of quiet voices on the porch. Assuming Carl had taken Judith out to watch the sunrise for some fresh air she sighed while walking over to the door. The blonde sucked in a sharp breath when she pulled the door open. Her knees nearly gave out to see the small crowd on the porch. Daryl was surrounded by Maggie, Glenn, Rick and Carl who still held his baby sister. Glenn and Rick appeared to be helping to support Daryl as he walked and the blonde quickly realized that it wasn't sunrise, it was sunset.

She'd slept the whole day away without even realizing it, but she couldn't care about that when her eyes locked onto his pale face. As he looked back at her a smirk began forming on the corners of his lips, his gaze taking her in as if he hadn't seen her in years. The blonde stood still for what felt like a very long time before Daryl carefully extracted himself from the other males holds. While he was still obviously weak from having been sick he wanted to make those last steps alone, besides that Daryl didn't much like getting a lot of help anyway. He was so stubborn.

At this point he could have been the most stubborn person on the planet and she wouldn't have cared, as long as he was right there in front of her. It seemed to take forever for the blonde to catch her breath from the sudden shock but as soon as she did she rushed onto the porch and wrapped her slender arms around his shoulders. His instantly wound around her waist to pull her close, burying his face into her hair. It didn't matter that it had only been two days since they'd actually seen one another, it felt like months or years had passed in that time and neither enjoyed being away from the other for that long.

His grip on her wasn't as strong as it had been a couple of days before due to his being weak from the infection, but he still managed to hold her as tightly as he possibly could. He'd barely had the chance to pull back so that he could look down at her before she leaned in and pressed her lips firmly against his. She ignored the jeers from her family and friends as she pulled him even closer, her fingers tangling into the hair that hung beside his ears.

A smile filled his lips when they finally separated, his dark eyes glued to her face. His thick fingers combed back through her silky hair. She smiled brightly up at him before tugging at him carefully. "Come on, you need to sit." She murmured when she finally remembered that he'd had to have support getting home.

He shook his head softly, "nah, 'm alright." Daryl was simply glad to be standing here with her again, he'd deal with being too weak to do much else later.

"Uh-uh. Sammi said we have to make sure you rest." Maggie quipped from behind him. The blonde couldn't help but to snicker as he rolled his eyes, obviously having forgotten that everyone else was there.

Beth wrapped an arm around his waist and tugged him toward the house. Daryl didn't really want to lean on her as they walked, but there wasn't a lot of choice in the matter. He was careful not to put too much of his weight on her, grasping at the door frame or the wall instead. The girl didn't seem to mind it much though and other than to check how far they were from their room she didn't take her eyes off of his face.

She could hear the others shuffling into the house behind them and paid no attention. "You guys hungry?" Glenn called as Beth was helping Daryl to lay down. Not having eaten since last night before she'd laid down the blonde quickly nodded. Daryl grunted a yes and her brother-in-law promised to find them something to eat.

The pregnant woman walked around to the other side of the bed and eased herself onto it with a low sigh. It was amazing that she'd slept all day and was still a somewhat tired. Almost as soon as her head hit the pillow Daryl's arms were around her again: one tucked under her head and the other gently rubbing at her swollen belly.

The girl chewed lightly on her lower lip with a smile forming as she looked at him. "I missed you." She said quietly. "I was so scared when Rick came in here and told me what happened.."

"Thought Conrad was gonna tell you?" He asked as he scooted closer to the girl, hating the space that had been there between them.

She shook her head quickly and carefully rolled onto her side to face him better, her fingers playing in his hair. "No, Rick ended up talking to him and found out what happened. He figured it would be better coming from someone I knew." A frown slipped onto her lips as her thumb caressed his cheek. "I thought I was going to lose you.."

"Nah, I'm'a live forever, don't'chu know it?" He teased causing the blonde to roll her eyes while fighting off a laugh. His smile faded as he frowned, "I heard that shot.." he murmured causing her to frown softly, "I didn't know what it was right away.. well, I knew _what_ it was," Daryl amended with a shake of his head, "jus' didn't know you was on the other end of it. Conrad told me after I got Michonne outta quarantine an' got myself cleaned up. I was gonna just come straight here but Bob and Sammi wasn't lettin' me until they was sure I was alright."

"Michonne was sick?" The girl's brows were furrowed in concern, she absolutely hated that she'd been so isolated that she honestly had no clue what was happening in town.

Daryl nodded with a frown tugging at his lips. "She's still pretty out of it, layin' at Rick's right now so she can rest up." His fingers gently played across her stomach, grinning when he felt the baby move under his fingertips. The girl chuckled in response and shook her head, wishing he could have seen how active the baby had been the night before. Remembering everything about Carol only made her frown. "You stabbed her?" He asked now.

The girl sighed and nodded against the pillow. While she was glad she'd protected herself and their unborn child, she wasn't proud of the fact that she'd actually hurt a living person. "Not that I wanted to.. I just didn't see another way out of it. I was terrified she was going to actually kill me and she had it all plotted out, too. She said she was going to make it look like I'd just gotten sick too. And then Judith? She would have been here all alone until whenever Rick or Carl checked on her again and.. I don't know. I saw your hunting knife on the window ledge and I just grabbed it.

"As soon as I had the chance I took it. She pointed her gun at me and.. I don't know I panicked." She recounted, frowning darkly. When his arms tightened around her a soft smile replaced the frown before vanishing again. "I dropped the knife out of either of our reach–stupidly–and tried to push the gun away from my face and it went off by my ear.. I still can't hear anything out of it." The girl lifted her head a little as if sound would come rushing back to her left ear. When it didn't she sighed and laid back down, "she punched me, then," the girl pointed to her bruised jaw.

Almost instantly he sat up on his elbow to lean over and press a kiss against the bruise, the action brought a gentle smile to her lips as she looked up at him. "After that she pointed the gun at my head and.. I really thought that was it. I thought I was going to die. I heard the shot and just.. I thought it was over." Her eyes closed as she remembered exactly how she'd felt in that moment. It had scared her more than probably anything else ever had, "and then I heard her fall. For a while there I kept thinking about what would have happened if Rick and the others hadn't shown up..

"And then I realized that I couldn't think about that because I've got you and him." Her hand dropped to rest on his over her stomach. "I love you, Daryl." Beth smiled, now, as she spoke. Her pale eyes danced over his face, tracing every line of his masculine features.

"I love you, too, Beth." He told her, grinning broadly. Daryl leaned over and pressed his lips against her forehead, then lay his head back against the pillow beside her, just staring at her pretty face.

The two were silent for a long time, just watching one another. Both were glad that the other was safe, both were glad that the other was home. Both were even happier that they could hold the other. Her thin fingers combed gently through the hair that hung passed his ears. After a few moments longer the smile slipped from her face as she pursed her lips in thought. Daryl arched a brow and nudged her with a grunting question of 'hmm?'.

The girl frowned a little then before, "how bad was it in there?" She wondered. She'd never really seen any of it at the Prison since she'd been safeguarded with Judith and now with being pregnant and, again, watching Judith it wasn't much of something she was able to actually go and help with or anything. When her gaze slipped back toward his face she regretted the question almost immediately because of the frown that played over his features.

He was quiet for a few moments, then a sigh slipped through. "It was pretty bad, I guess. I mean, people was dyin' left an' right and there wasn't no way to stop it, you know? Hell, when I ended up in there I.. I dunno, I kinda thought I wasn't never gonna get it. Thought I was Superman or somethin'." He smirked at the grin that pulled at her lips. Beth often thought he was a sort of Superman. He certainly was her own superhero. "Soon as I saw Bob, though I knew. Couldn't believe it neither. All's I wanted was to come home. Course I couldn't.. but.. you know.." he murmured and gently rubbed at her stomach again.

"Soon as I was able to walk, though I started helpin' out. Couldn't jus' sit around. Saw Rosie.. shocked the hell outta me, I dunno why, thought maybe Conrad would'a told everyone who was sick or somethin'.. guess he was jus' tryin' not to get us down. An' then Maggie and Michonne an' everybody got back.. I couldn't believe it when I saw Michonne was down.. didn't think she'd've caught it.." he remembered with a frown just how shocked he'd been when he'd seen their warrior out cold on the cot. "An' then Glenn told me they didn't find enough meds to help everyone an' all I could think was that I had to be one that got it.

"I had to get better to get home. I didn't much care 'bout anyone else gettin' it, long as I got it. Course, I wanted Michonne an' Rosie an' everyone else to get better too, but.." he frowned deeply, feeling as if admitting it made him a bad person. She caressed his cheek reassuringly. Beth knew that if the roles were reversed and she'd been in his position she would have hoped for the same thing. "An' then Conrad shows up like some cowboy wit' the meds from Carol's group. Didn't tell us right away that Tyreese was dead," this time the frown on his lips was because he'd helped with the plan that got the man killed.

Beth offered a sympathetic smile and nodded. He didn't have to say the words for her to know that he was hurting over it. He and Tyreese might not have been the best of friends or anything, but he'd known and trusted the guy and Daryl had been in on the plan to get rid of Carol, the plan that ended the carpenter's life. Of course he would feel some grief over it. If he hadn't, then Beth would have worried. "I dunno, things jus' went kinda crazy after that. Michonne started pukin' blood, Sasha wanted to get out to get to Carol, Bob was makin' plans an' Glenn was tryin' to keep everyone focused."

He pulled the blonde a little closer to him in a gentle hug, amused that her midsection couldn't fit flush against his as it used to with the swell of her stomach. "The last couple hours in there is kind've a blur now.. movin' people 'round, gettin' things the way Bob wanted 'em, an' then we was movin' everyone out into the 'shower' they set up. Wasn't much of a shower, jus' some cold ass water dumped on everyone. Wanted us to stand outside in our skivvies and wash up." At that information Beth smirked fought not to laugh at the image of Daryl standing outside in the early morning hours in nothing but his boxers while scrubbing himself down with a bar of soap.

Already realizing she was putting a mental image together he rolled his eyes and shook his head against the pillow. "Well, I didn't. No way, no how was I gonna stand there like that. Michonne didn't either. Everybody went to the safe house that they'd set up for the infected. Had to sit there all damn day until we wasn't pukin' or coughin' no more. Then Bob had to go 'round and take everybody's temperature and give us more medicine.

"When I got the all clear Michonne an' Rosie an' a lot of other people was still there, the ones that was too sick." He told the blonde now, a frown etching it's way onto his lips. Beth hated seeing that frown in place.

"She'll be fine, you know? Michonne's tough as nails. Hell, she's probably already out." The girl told him with confidence. As far as Rosie went, well.. Beth didn't much care for the woman but she also wasn't a cruel person. No one had deserved to get sick and knowing that anyone had was a shame. She was pretty certain that Rosie would be out of quarantine as well.

Daryl nodded as he looked at her, suddenly silent. The intensity in which he stared made Beth's brows furrow slightly. She wondered if she'd said something wrong, or if perhaps he was remembering something else. He said nothing, merely watched her for a small period of time until the girl began to wonder if something were wrong.

Without warning he leaned in and pressed his lips gently against hers. It was a surprise, certainly, but it wasn't an unwelcome one. Her hold on him tightened slightly as she returned the kiss, always glad to have some reason to do it. After only a few moments he pulled away again, "Beth.." he hesitated now, chewing on his lower lip in nervousness. "I love you." He told her, his eyes locked against hers. The girl smiled and opened her mouth to response, but he quickly shook his head to silence her. Daryl couldn't hear much beyond the pounding in his own ears.

"When I was in there all I kept thinkin' about was how I might not get to see you again an' how I wouldn't get to see the baby an' everythin' else. I thought about how I never wanna be away from you like that again." He took in a slow breath to calm his nerves before, "I know it ain't the same as it used to be. Nothin's ever gonna be the same. Prob'ly wouldn't be nothin' fancy an' God only knows how everythin' could go.."

"Daryl..?" Her brows furrowed in confusion. He wasn't making much sense at this point. She hadn't seen him stumble around his words like this in a very long time.

At the sound of her voice he chewed carefully on his lower lip and fought off a faint laugh as he looked her in the eye. "Look, I ain't good wit' words, you know that." The girl nodded in response, though still looked completely confused. "Maybe I ought'a just show you instead.."

He shifted enough to dig into his pocket for something, with his hand clenched into a tight fist he brought it up closer to her face. "I know there's s'posed to be some big fancy dinner an' everythin', an' I'm s'posed to get down or somethin'.. but.." Daryl swallowed hard again and carefully uncurled his fingers, never allowing his eyes to move from her pale face.

Beth stared back at him for a moment, then slowly lowered her gaze to the little silver hoop in his palm. She didn't know much about jewelry, never having really worn much of it, but the blonde knew a ring when she saw one. Her lips parted in shock, a rush of air flowing passed them as she stared down at the ring. It was simple, a silver hoop with a pale pink gem in the center. Too stunned to speak the blonde just stared.

"I know it's s'posed to be a diamond and it's s'posed to be bigger.. I jus'.."

After a moment she shook her head to cut him off, fighting the tears that began to well in her eyes. "No, it's perfect.. I.. Daryl. Are.. are you..?" For some reason she couldn't force the question out. Her gaze raised to his face in time to see him nod.

"I love you, I don't know how we can make it work but I know we can. Will.." never having made a commitment this large was giving him a bit of trouble with the words he wanted to say. He didn't want the blonde to answer without hearing the question. Closing his eyes for only a second he saw everything that he needed. He saw the two of them, happy with a baby in her arms. He saw her smiling at him and he knew just how much he loved her. That was all he needed. "Will you marry me?" He asked, trying to ignore the painful thudding of his heart as he watched her face.

The blonde stared at him for a moment before a smile began to spread across her lips. She nodded quickly and laughed quietly as she leaned in to kiss him again, her hands grasping his cheeks. "Yes. Daryl, yes. Nothing would make me happier. I love you." He laughed softly as he gently took her left hand into his and slipped the ring onto her finger with his gently shaking fingers. It was a little loose but Daryl figured he could find a way to fix that with a little bit of time.

**–**

**Reviews?**


	41. All That Remains

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: There's not a whole mess of dialogue in this chapter, mostly just a lot of Daryl thoughts and feelings.**

**Also I want to give fair warning that my updates may semi-slow down for a little while. I've got a lot of personal things going on right now and won't have much ability to get to the computer. Sooo, just to let everyone know that updates will still come, but they may not be every day as they've been for so long now.**

–

Truthfully, Daryl had taken himself by surprise when he'd been able to get the words out. They were simple words when spoken in his head. Alone none of the words really meant much of anything but combined they made probably the most marvelous sentence in the history of the world. Saying them in his head had been easy enough but while staring at the beautiful blonde it had been difficult. Hell, it was harder to ask her to marry him than it had been to tell her he loved her.. and at that time Daryl had thought he'd never find anything more difficult and those three words.

He'd thought about it all day while he'd been in quarantine, about today finally being the day he'd gather the courage to ask her. He'd been thinking about it for several weeks now, actually. There had been so much worry surrounding the question that Daryl hadn't been sure when the appropriate time would be. First, he'd considered waiting until after their child was born. With the worry that surrounded that ordeal he'd been afraid to ask before and then lose her in childbirth.

That would be more painful than he thought he could handle. Then he realized something more, something that made him look so much deeper within himself. If he waited and she did die while delivering their child, he would never have known her answer. It would have been speculation and that was more painful than he believed he could bear. The unknown of it all. While he was still absolutely terrified of losing her, Daryl realized that he needed to know her answer sooner rather than later.

He'd been looking for the ring for close to three weeks, a search that he was steadily growing sure would not be fruitful. But then the infection planted itself within Terminus. Daryl wasn't opposed to 'stealing' from the dead, perhaps before the end of the world he might have been but not anymore. One afternoon when he'd been helping Bob to take the bodies out of quarantine to burn them, he'd seen it. Glinting on the finger of one of the women who'd worked the farms. Daryl had debated over it for what felt like hours before he'd snatched it from the dead woman's fingers and pocketed it.

He was sure that if it hadn't been that pretty little pink stone he wouldn't have grabbed it at all. Hell, it had even gotten to the point when he'd been considering making a ring for her. No, it wouldn't have a gem or a beautiful diamond. No, it wouldn't have been silver or gold. He probably would have made something out of cloth and just hoped to God it'd be enough for her. When he found that ring, though, it was like a bit of fate.

He'd never really believed much in fate or destiny before Beth. She'd opened his eyes to a whole new world of things that he never would have put much stock in. Now that the girl loved him, and he her, he saw hope. She made him realize that it was fate that had put their group at the Greene farm. It was fate that had caused them to leave the Prison together. It was destiny to fall in love with her and for them to get pregnant. He just had to hope that fate and destiny wouldn't attempt to pull her away when the baby came.

The idea still scared the hell out of him but he was coping a lot better now. Especially with the knowledge that he could have lost her last night because of some crazed woman who simply didn't realize that he didn't love her. It was all Beth.

Honestly, he'd forgotten about the ring until earlier today. With all the hysteria and panic over the infection and the fact that he'd managed to catch it, it wasn't too unbelievable. Though as he sat in the second quarantine, waiting for Bob to clear him to go home, he'd remembered the little ring in his pocket. He'd pulled it out and examined it carefully, once more debating when the right time would be to ask.

Had he been able to get home on his own today without the small crowd of people around him, he probably would have asked her right there on the porch.. as soon as he'd set eyes on her. With everyone standing around, though, Daryl's tongue hadn't cooperated. And he was glad that he had the chance to ask her while they were alone, it made it easier for him to say everything he wanted to.

When she'd said 'yes' Daryl had had to take a moment to be sure he'd heard her and it wasn't his imagination putting the words into his head with her voice. The look on her face had been all the confirmation he'd needed. He wished he could have been a little more confident while putting the ring on her finger, though. His fingers had shaken so much he'd nearly missed her finger twice.

The blonde hadn't seemed to mind, it though as she'd just stared happily at him. While the ring was a little loose, Daryl was sure that he could figure out some way to fix it. He pulled her close and kissed her deeply once more. Her arms tightened around him, easily melting against him as she returned it. When the knock sounded at their door Daryl wanted nothing more than to ignore it, or tell Glenn to go away.

The blonde pulled away first, her eyes shining as she looked at him. "I'm hungry." She told him with a faint pout forming on her lips, the words bringing a chuckle to his own. He was hungry as well but didn't much want to do anything beyond hold onto her. "I haven't eaten since before Carol showed up.." she told him now, hoping that the knowledge that it'd been almost a full day since she'd eaten would make him loosen his grip.

He nodded softly and carefully pulled back to roll onto his back. "Come in.." he called to Glenn, then rolled back onto his side and rested his hand on her stomach again. Seconds later and the door opened slowly, as if the younger male were testing to be sure it was truly safe to step into the room.

"It's not much but Sammi made some potato soup." The male told them, "do you want to eat in here or..?"

Beth stared at Daryl for a moment, her thumb gently twirling the ring around her thin finger as she chewed on her lower lip. He already knew what it was she wanted. She wanted to scream it to the world, hopefully she'd be a little more subtle than that, though. As if to answer the unasked question he nodded. "We're coming out there." The blonde stated to her brother-in-law over Daryl's shoulder. Beth could hear, though her working ear, the sound of Maggie, Rick and Carl's voices as well as Judith jabbering in her baby-talk. "Come on, Mr. Dixon." She urged while gently extracting herself from his hold so that she could climb out of bed.

As she walked around to his side of the bed Daryl rolled and carefully pulled himself to sit up. A small sigh fell from his lips, remembering just how weak he was. Determined not to use the girl as a leaning post he took the moment to muster his strength before pushing himself to his feet. He used the wall and door frame to support a good majority of his weight, waving off the help that the blonde offered. "'M alright." He promised and nodded gently to tell her to walk ahead of him.

She stared for a moment as if to gauge his strength before stepping out of the room. Daryl was mildly surprised that she hadn't went screaming to Maggie at the first chance, instead as he walked slowly from the room he watched the girl as she casually moved. She didn't flash the ring around, she didn't make it overly noticeable that she was exceptionally excited. As he moved into the living room Glenn patted the back of the recliner, figuring Daryl could take the seat there.

He smiled in thanks and carefully walked across the room, every step felt as if he were wearing lead shoes and although he'd slept so much lately he was still brutally exhausted. His gaze shifted to the small kitchen where Maggie and Beth were filling bowls with the creamy white potato soup. It was difficult to contain the little grin that tugged at the corners of his mouth as he watched Beth bounce a little on her toes.

Only seconds seemed to have passed before he heard the shocked voice. "Beth.. what is that?" It took just a simple glance toward the women to see Maggie pointing at Beth's hand. He couldn't see Beth's face but could easily imagine the smirk that was playing across it. "Beth?!"

Daryl soon realized that the other men in the room had stopped talking and were turned toward the kitchen in curiosity. When he heard Beth's voice he could barely contain the laugh that wanted to slip out at the boldness to her tone. "You're not the only one ditching the Greene name." Daryl glanced toward his lap for a moment, then he looked up and saw Rick, Carl and Glenn all staring at him. One shoulder rose and fell in a little shrug as the grin finally broke loose.

Glenn's eyes were wide with shock but he was smiling as well. Carl actually let out a laugh before he turned his gaze back toward the kitchen. Rick's expression was the one that made Daryl smile even brighter. The male was watching him in awe, probably just because he hadn't believed Daryl had had it in him. After a moment his friend nodded and smiled at him before they heard Maggie's little squeal.

Daryl jumped faintly when he'd barely turned toward the kitchen and saw the brunette had come running in. He wasn't sure why he was expecting her to hit him, so when her arms wrapped around him he froze in place. His eyes jumped toward the Asian male for a moment as if to ask what had just happened, the male quickly shook his head with a little shrug. When Maggie pulled back from the hug she pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "I really did not think you had it in you, Daryl. Welcome to the family."

He pretended to look hurt as he stared up at the woman, "thought I was already family?" He asked, sounding almost as hurt as he looked. Maggie's jaw dropped slightly as she floundered for words to fix the situation. She really couldn't understand how she could have hurt his feelings. Hearing the faint stutter that began to form on the woman's lips made Daryl chuckle enough that she huffed in irritation. The sound caused Carl to laugh, followed by Glenn, then Rick and soon enough the whole group was laughing amongst themselves.

Maggie reached out and swatted Daryl's arm with a playfully angry expression before turning back to her sister. He never would have realized that something so simple as a proposal could bring so much joy to so many people. Sure, he'd expected he and Beth's happiness but not for the group to be so happy about it. Daryl briefly wondered what his brother would have said. Strangely, he couldn't picture Merle having been happy about it. Perhaps it was just because Merle had expected he and Daryl to be alone in all of this, brothers together until the end with no one else to ever worry about.

He wondered what Hershel would have had to say. After several moments of thought he realized that the old guy would have been happy. As long as Beth was happy and Daryl kept her that way he was certain that the man wouldn't have had a problem with it. His dark eyes danced around to his friends and couldn't help but to smile lightly.

He had to wonder what other's reactions would be. Michonne, Sammi, Conrad. Of course, Michonne's was one that mattered more than the rest. Not like it truly mattered. She could say that it was the worst idea in the world and it wouldn't change his mind on wanting to marry the little blonde. She was more important to him than anything else in the world. A smile traced his lips as Beth held out the bowl of soup to him then perched herself on the arm of the chair as she ate the quickly chilling food.

He glanced around again before taking a bite, realizing for the first time that _this_ was his family. This odd bunch of people who had grouped together in the worst of circumstances. This group who had seen a lot of hurt and heartache and always seemed to bounce back. Of course, he wished that Michonne were sitting here, Andrea, Merle, Dale. Some days he even missed T-Dog. This was his family. This group who supported him where his real family had failed.

A smile pulled on his lips at that realization as he took a bite from the bowl. He'd never much cared for potato soup before now but after the last couple of days without food and the elation at the girl's response to his proposal, it was unquestionably the best thing he'd eaten in years.

He glanced up toward the blonde as she gaze slowly around the room at the people gathered. Daryl couldn't stop himself from watching her for a while as she ate in silence and listened to the conversation building within the room. Resting his bowl in his lap Daryl reached his hand out and gently rubbed her swollen belly, smiling up at her when she shifted her gaze down. A grin filled her lips as she looked back at him. Beth leaned over and pressed a kiss to the top of his head before Carl dragged her into the conversation.

Truthfully, Daryl tuned most of their words out in favor of watching the blonde's face as she spoke, marveling in the way she would look down at the ring encircling her pale finger in wonder. He couldn't think of a time when he'd ever seen her that happy, that at peace with the world.

It wasn't long before everyone's bowls were empty and Rick commented on needing to get back to work. Carl planned to take the baby to home so that they both could get some rest. Glenn and Maggie both complained of being tired and in need of sleep as well. Daryl was amazed he hadn't fallen asleep in the chair before the bowl was gently pulled from his hands.

Beth smiled as she grasped his hand and helped to haul him to his feet. "Let's go to bed." She murmured. Daryl nodded softly and moved with her to bed. He'd barely wrapped his arms around the blonde before drifting off to sleep. Being this close and being able to hold onto her again? He'd had so much trouble with actually sleeping the last couple of days that as soon as she was beside him again and he was comfortable, he had no issue with drifting off to dreamland. It wasn't much longer that the girl settled into sleep as well.

**–**

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	42. No Time Left

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: **

–

She couldn't believe that it was almost as if the infection hadn't run through their community like one of those madmen in horror movies with a chainsaw and a creepy mask. Everyone, naturally, remembered it but no one really spoke on it. It was almost like a taboo. People seemed to think that if they talked about it, it would return. Of course, she knew this was completely senseless. Samantha Deacon had been practicing medicine long enough to know better.

The doctor frowned as she wandered through the streets, unable to fall asleep. It'd been almost two whole months since the virus had taken hold on Terminus and the memory still gave her chills. To know that so many people had died, so many more had been deathly ill. As a physician it had been horrible for her when something like this had rocked through their community. Mostly because she was used to being able to treat people when things got really bad. With medicine and machinery and all the gadgets that clogged hospitals. Ninety percent of those machines no longer worked because there wasn't enough power in the world to keep them going.

Sure, there was substitutes to the old fashioned electric. Batteries didn't have much use anymore, unless they were military grade their cells had faded long ago. Even most car batteries were beginning to fade. The idea was a little terrifying, truthfully. It meant that soon their vehicles would no longer be able to make the runs that they needed to search for medications and food. Sammi had even brought up the idea of building an old fashioned wagon and making the attempt to tame some of the, now, wild horses that roamed the land.

Conrad was currently considering the pros and cons of it with the other group leaders. She knew that it would be difficult, especially considering they barely had the food to feed the people who lived here, let alone trying to feed a couple of horses. There was also the fact that the horses were spooked by the walkers, spooked enough that they would probably become problematic while on a run. About the only thing in the pro column for it was that they were an alternative to walking a hundred miles away to find supplies.

She sighed softly, pulling the loose braid over her shoulder as she walked. Several more people had wandered upon Terminus over the last two months, some had seen the smoke from the burning of the quarantine. Sammi, Cole and Bob had had to check every single one of them over to be sure none were sick. While it had irritated a few of them, most hadn't seemed to mind and saw it as a necessity.

Several had joined the guards, others had went to the farms. Sadly, none had even the smallest hint of medical knowledge. It wasn't that she minded being one a select few doctors, it was the simple knowledge that if something happened to her, Cole or Bob all that was left was Beth. The girl's medical knowledge was severely lacking. While she and the other two doctors had done their best to teach the girl it had become increasingly difficult for the blonde to get out of the house.

Having to work in an ER had meant that Sammi had done a rotation in several different areas of the hospital. Her favorite had been in OB because it was just so wonderful to see the new mothers faces as they held their babies for the first time. To see the father's–the ones who were actually involved, anyway–expressions throughout. Sammi had loved it and had learned a lot while there. One thing she remembered from her time there was that during the eighth and ninth months a pregnant woman's stomach would rapidly expand as the baby grew. Within that last month the baby usually gained about a pound a week.

Beth seemed to have gained more weight than anyone expected in these last couple of weeks and when she'd begun to have labor pains two weeks back Sammi had put her foot down and ordered bed rest for the duration of the blonde's pregnancy. Beth had been fine with it for the first week and then the boredom took over and she wanted nothing more that to leave the house, if only for a brief walk. As she was only nearing the end of her eighth month, Sammi didn't want to risk her going into early labor. Not yet. Two weeks. Two weeks and then the girl could take her walk to help induce the labor and the woman wouldn't complain.

The blonde had never regained the hearing in her left ear after her fight with Carol. Sammi wished that there were something she could have done about it. Unfortunately, there was nothing.. not anymore. Perhaps two years ago when there was the possibility of surgery or hearing aides, but not now. All they could do was hope that some day the hearing might return to the damaged eardrum. Of course, Sammi didn't have much hope of that. Once it was gone like that, there was little chance of it healing over properly enough to regain hearing. Beth may eventually realize that high pitched noises came easier on the left side, or low pitched if she were truly lucky. There just wasn't enough hope that it would return fully.

She really did wish that they had enough power on the portable ultrasound for her to check on the baby, but there just wasn't enough. Especially considering every battery they came across was dead. They would just have to rely on Beth to know what was happening inside. As long as the baby continued to be active and the girl continued to grow they didn't have much to worry about. It was if the baby stilled that they would need to panic. So far everything was just fine.

That didn't lessen anyone's worry, though. Ever since she'd had those pains a couple of weeks back Daryl had become increasingly paranoid to the point that he rarely left the girl's side. While Beth found it endearing, she was also beginning to find it completely annoying. Sammi was attributing that to the girl's hormones and already irritable state from being confined to the house. Maggie worried, too. It wasn't hard to see that Michonne and Daryl, Rick and Carl and everyone that knew the blonde was worried about what was to come.

She'd heard the stories from Maggie about Rick's wife. What had happened when Lori had gone into labor. Sammi had done the best she could to assure everyone that as the time drew near she would be close by Beth at all times.. no matter how much it irritated the pregnant woman. Labor could come on at any time and she would need to be close when it started.

The woman shook the thoughts from her head as she made her way back to the doctor's quarters, frowning as she spotted Cole moving around the main room through the windows. She wasn't in much of a mood to deal with him right now. Their arrangement had been that they would seek one anothers arms when they were lonely.. Cole was steadily growing too close for her comfort. He'd expressed how much he cared earlier tonight and it had frightened her off more than she cared to admit.

Sammi had been content with their arrangement, especially considering neither of them seemed all that lonely often. Every time she was with Cole she felt as if she were betraying Jon and it hurt. Of course, she did have needs that needed taken care of but that didn't stop the faint ache every time she saw the small bands around her finger.

The woman ignored Cole's silhouette inside the building and opted the climb the ladder on the side of the building to the roof. She'd never understood what the point of having rocks and gravel on a rooftop was, but it did make it semi comfortable when she needed the peace away from everyone and everything. She eased herself down onto the roof and laid back to stare at the stars with a slow sigh falling from her lips.

It was quiet tonight, as it had been for the last two months. _'Calm before the storm,'_ Conrad had voiced a couple days beforehand. She'd frowned at him, though now that she was alone with nothing but her thoughts to keep her company, the doctor couldn't help thinking of them again.

Another faint sigh slipped through her full lips as she watched the stars twinkle overhead. When her eyes closed she could almost remember what it had been like to lay like this with Jon. He'd been so handsome. She'd fallen for him as a sophomore in High School. He'd been a year older and he'd been the 'bad boy'. He'd been the guy who had enjoyed picking fights, just to get himself kicked out of school for the remainder of the day or week. He'd steal and lie, he'd gotten into more trouble than just about anyone she'd ever met.

And she'd fallen for him against her better judgment. When he'd finally noticed the 'good girl' Sammi he'd let her in. It had been rocky, and her father had thrown a downright tantrum when he'd found out his precious, brilliant daughter had fallen for a moron. At least, that was what Enrique Martinez had called the boy. Her father didn't have much respect for anyone who didn't have the courage to work for the things that mattered, like money.

When Jon was arrested in his senior year for stealing from a convenience store and thrown in jail for a year Sammi had nearly given up on the man. But he'd turned himself around while in jail, got his G.E.D. through the county and ended up heading for police academy as soon as he was released. She honestly couldn't remember how their romance had rekindled after they'd met up again. The next thing she knew, though, they were married.

Her father had become so furious that she had been terrified he would kill her new husband, perhaps throttle her as well. Sammi's mother and brother had talked the man down and in the end he settled for telling Sammi that if Jon ever hurt her he'd kill him. He told her that as long as she made something good out of her life he would consider allowing Jon to be a part of the family. She knew that her father had good intentions, he was just a little old fashioned.

Sammi missed him fiercely, nearly as much as she missed Jon and her brothers. Despite what she'd told Beth all those months ago, she still hoped that somewhere her husband was alive and well. That he was helping others like Rick had, like Conrad had. She hoped and prayed that he was doing something good instead of turning into one of those mindless beasts that roamed the world. The thought alone brought stinging tears to her eyes. She didn't want to think about it, she didn't want to think about him. Thoughts of him only ended in tears.

More so tonight when she was plagued by her thoughts of Cole. He was a good man. He was a kind man and he truly did care for her. She knew that. The problem was that Sammi did still have that hope, small as it was, that her Jon was out there somewhere. As long as she still had that hope she could never fully give anything of herself to someone else.

Though she had considered allowing that hope to fade, Sammi was really worried that if she did a part of her would die as well. She loved him more than anything in the world and the thought of completely letting him go was like allowing some human part of herself to go. She'd been with him and loved him for close to fifteen years. It wasn't something that she could just forget easily.

Of course, she did care for Cole as well but she couldn't allow herself to be too close. Especially knowing the world they currently lived in. There were no promises, there were no guarantees. Any moment could be your last, whether by a walker or by something so simple as an illness.

–

The woman hadn't even realized she'd fallen asleep until she'd heard the shouting voices from below. A groan fell from her lips as she pushed herself to sit up, rubbing at her tired eyes. Sammi then yawned as she hauled herself sleepily to her feet and toward the front of the building where the shouting had come from. "What do you mean she's not here?" A familiar feminine voice shouted.

"Exactly that. She left earlier and hasn't come back yet." Cole stated simply and even without seeing his face Sammi could envision the frown etched onto his lips. "What's so important?"

"It's Beth." At that moment Sammi connected the voice with a face.

"Maggie?" She called down over the edge of the roof. Seconds later the woman stepped into view, a worried look on her face. Only a couple of seconds passed before Cole joined the brunette woman. He frowned even darker and shook his head in irritation. "What's going on?"

Maggie let out a heavy breath and shook her head, "we think Beth might be in labor this time.. she's in a whole lot of pain." The woman looked concerned and saddened by this at the same time. She hated to see her younger sister hurting over anything.

The woman had barely gotten the words out when Sammi had shoved herself back to her feet and ran toward the ladder. Moments later and she'd dropped to the ground, then rushed into the office. Maggie followed behind and lingered in the doorway as Sammi began throwing things into her medical bag.

"You've been up there the whole time?" Cole's whispered voice sounded only a few feet to her right. She glanced at him with a frown before nodding and getting back to the task at hand. "You know I was worried, right?"

"Can we not do this now?" She snapped, regretting it almost instantly at the hurt expression that crossed his features. After closing the bag she shook her head. There wasn't time to apologize for his hurt feelings right now. Not when something was happening with her patient, her friend, her student. "Let's go." The Hispanic doctor stated to Maggie before rushing out the door again.

As she ran with the brunette at her side she spoke again, "what kind of pain."

"Beth said it's in her back" Maggie panted quietly, her arms pumping at her sides.

Only a few minutes passed from the time they'd left the doctor's quarters to the time they slammed into the door to the Dixon/Rhee household. Beth was perched on the couch, leaning forward with her arms wrapped around her stomach. Glenn paced behind the couch and Daryl paced in front. Neither were getting too close to the girl and when Sammi placed what she thought was a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder she understood why.

Beth flashed an angry glare toward the doctor before the anger melted quickly away. "Where's the pain?" The doctor asked. The blonde slowly pulled one arm from around her swollen belly to gently touch her lower back, slightly above the tailbone before sobbing quietly.

"It feels like it's just.. everywhere. From here to here and all over." She'd indicated her back to her abdomen.

Sammi instantly flashed her gaze to Daryl, assuming he'd know better than anyone, "how long?"

"'Bout half hour.. tried to get her to lay down but she says walkin' makes her feel better." He stated and frowned, "course she can't hardly walk on her own but won't let no body help her neither." The male looked irritated about it and Beth turned the angry glare she'd given to Sammi only moments ago onto her fiance. Sammi heard him sigh as he resumed pacing.

"Pain come and go?" She asked now to the blonde. When Beth nodded she frowned a little, then instructed Glenn to stand closer to Beth's head before helping the girl to lay back on the couch. After gloving up she slipped her hand carefully between the girl's legs.

Only seconds later she released a sigh and looked to the floor. "No.." Beth moaned, already knowing. She'd known when the pain started. "It's too soon.. no.." she sobbed again before sucking in a sharp breath and clutching onto the cushions of the couch as the pain racked her again.

Sammi turned her dark eyes around to each face in turn before finally settling on Daryl who panted, his eyes darting between the doctor and the thin blonde wildly. "8 centimeters dilated, 90% effaced. We've got maybe an hour." Her gaze locked against Daryl as she smiled sadly, knowing he had to be completely panicked right now. "I'm sorry.. We're out of time."

**–**

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	43. Save the Last One

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language, Blood, Gore**

**Authors Note: Alright, I'm gonna say this now. I've been through labor, it sucks. I've also been lucky enough to witness several others. I _do_ know what it's like, though sometimes it can be difficult to put it into words. Also, with the last chapter some people had complained about how 'fast' her labor was. To be fair, she could have been contracting all day and no one realized, Beth could simply had dismissed the pains until they grew too severe. I know I did. One minute I'm at the doctor's office and they're telling me I've still got two weeks and then later that night I had my boy. So, that being said, her labor didn't just come out of nowhere, it had progressed without anyone's knowledge.**

–

"I'm sorry.. We're out of time." He heard Sammi's voice and sharply shook his head.

"No! You told us we still had a month, you told us it was too soon!" He shouted, fighting against the sense of impending doom that began to fill him. "You stopped it before.. you can do it again!" He hadn't completely meant for it to come out so commanding. His terror was getting the better of him here and he wasn't sure he could hold on.

All the worries and panic that he'd suppressed for months on end were beginning to slam back into his mind. The worries of what would come when she went into labor. He'd just kept telling himself that they had time, that they had enough time to figure it out and deal with everything. He kept telling himself that they would be fine. That she'd hold out and the baby would be fine, that Beth would be fine. But now that time had run out everything came crashing back.

His head swam so violently that Daryl was terrified he might pass out as he fought against the panic attack that was beginning to overwhelm him. The sound of plastic snapped him back to attention. His gaze landed on the doctor and Maggie as they laid out a thick sheet of plastic on the floor, their way of containing any and all blood that came with the delivery process.

Sammi stood now and after instructing Maggie and Glenn to get Beth on the floor she moved closer to Daryl while shaking her head. "There's nothing I can do to stop it now, Daryl. It's too far along." She reached out and placed a hand gently on his shoulder, "she needs you right now." She gently squeezed his arm in what he assumed was supposed to be a comforting touch, then woman began to move away again.

He glanced toward the others before reaching out and grasping Sammi's arms to pull her back to him. He kept his voice low enough that the others wouldn't hear anything beyond a subtle mumble. "You told us you could do this." When the woman nodded Daryl tightened his grip enough to force her to look at him. "Promise me."

Sammi stared up at him for a moment before closing her eyes in defeat. "I can't make that promise, Daryl. All I can say is I will do everything in my power to keep her and the baby with us. And that right now she needs you and in case things don't go right you need to be right there with her." She carefully extracted herself from his hold and spoke again, "I know you're worried and scared but so is everyone else. Don't let her see it."

Seconds later she'd stepped away from him causing him to fight against the panic that was slowly cutting off his air supply. All it took was the blonde's pained voice to bring him back to reality. "Daryl..?"

When his eyes opened it was to see her settled on the floor on top of the plastic tarp with a pillow under her head. Maggie sat beside the girl and Glenn hovered behind his wife unsure of what he needed to do. After sucking in a sharp breath to steady himself he dropped to his knees beside his fiance. Two months later and it was still odd to use that word. "'M here, ain't goin' no where." He told her now, hoping to reassure her just before her eyes closed and a cry of pain fell from her lips. Daryl reached out and grasped her thin hand tightly in his own, his dark eyes locked onto her face.

"Alright, Glenn, get under her head, when she needs to push I want you to help her sit up. Maggie, Daryl if I need you to you're going to each grab a leg and pull it up closer to her chest. Beth.. honey, I'm going to need you to push with all your might, okay?" The blonde nodded sharply as the pain slowly began to recede. In the brief downtime Sammi grabbed a thin blanket from her bag, then set a pair of sterilized–or as best as she could get them–scissors beside her knees. Medical needle and thread were next, though she was hoping neither of those were needed.

The doctor positioned herself between the girl's legs only seconds after Beth began panting heavily in pain, crying out as Glenn pushed her to sit up slightly. His arms tucked under hers to help support her weight, cringing when the girl's cries became high pitched squeals as she continued pushing. It all faded to slow pants once more as she leaned back against her brother-in-law, eyes closing in exhaustion.

A sheen of sweat had spread over the girl's pale face and Daryl had to fight once more to keep his panic to himself. He glanced briefly toward Maggie to see the woman watching her sister closely. It seemed like only seconds had passed before the blonde was panting and groaning again, her hands gripping tightly onto his and Maggie's.

"There's the head!" Sammi announced, her hands carefully cradling the newborn's head as she glanced up with a quick smile toward Beth. "Full head of hair, too." The blonde smiled and let out a quick laugh as she glanced toward Daryl. "One more big push, Beth and then it's all over." Sammi told the girl.

There was a large part of Daryl that wanted to look toward the baby to see that hair, to see it's face but he just couldn't take his eyes from Beth's pale face. She'd looked so happy there for a second when their eyes had met up. It gave him a sliver of hope that things would most certainly be alright. Of course, there was still a lot that could factor in. He'd heard so many horror stories of the things that could happen, especially since he'd been sitting at home with Beth for the last couple of weeks and had taken the time to read one of the pregnancy books Maggie had brought back on their last run.

While some of that worry was slowly fading, there wasn't enough gone for Daryl to feel confident that things would be alright. "Alright, one more, Beth, come on!" The doctor commanded when Beth began groaning again. She clenched even harder to Daryl's hand than she had before, her eyes squeezing tightly shut as she pushed with everything she had in her. When she dropped back against Glenn in exhaustion, panting quietly, Daryl tore his gaze away long enough to see Sammi holding the blood covered infant on it's stomach. The woman quickly used a nose aspirator to clear the gunk from the infant's nose and mouth before turning it in her arms.

Almost as soon as it was on it's back that baby began wailing, "it's a boy!" Sammi announced as she clamped something around the cord. She then wrapped it gently in the blanket she'd brought, a smile tugging on her lips as she held the baby toward Beth, who sat up enough to pull him toward her chest. She gasped quietly, her fingers combing through the baby's blood stained hair.

"Oh my god.. look at him." She breathed, unable to take her eyes away from the infant's face.

"Daryl?" He heard Sammi's voice and had to force his eyes off of the wrinkly skinny faced infant in Beth's arms. A grunted 'hmm?' was all that the woman got in response before looking back to the baby. Sammi chuckled quietly as she held out the scissors. "Would you like to cut the cord?" She asked now.

Daryl shifted his gaze toward the doctor, brows furrowed in concern. Of course, he'd heard that it could be done by the father but he'd never actually put thought into doing it.

He stammered for only a second, his gaze turning back to Beth who smiled softly up at him. Her attention had shifted back to the baby for a moment, admiring his features. Naturally, most were too wrinkled and bloody to really tell anything definitive, but she was willing to bet he had Daryl's nose. A faint smile began on Daryl's lips as he nodded and turned toward the doctor before hearing the gasp from the blonde.

"Oh.. my god, should it.. still hurt that bad?" She groaned, gritting her teeth. The smiles of the group vanished almost instantaneously as they looked back to Sammi. The woman shifted faintly in concern before leaning forward and placing one hand against the girls stomach and the other between her legs.

"Holy crap.." she whispered, eyes wide. She glanced at their faces again for a moment, her lips parted faintly in shock. Just before anyone could ask her what the problem was Sammi kicked herself into gear. "Maggie, take the baby. Beth, honey.. I need you to push again."

"What!? Why!?" The girl's voice jumped an octave as her eyes widened.

"Because there's another baby in here." Sammi stated bluntly, ignoring the sharp collective gasps of the group.

"But.. the.. You did that ultrasound.." Beth stammered, shaking her head, "there.. just one!"

Sammi sharply shook her head at the girl, "and I didn't get to do a complete exam with it, either. If you remember correctly the battery was near dead and we didn't have another." As Beth groaned in pain, Sammi cut the cord quickly and Maggie pulled the baby from Beth's arms only seconds later. Once more Daryl felt that panic well inside him.

He gripped tightly to her pale hand and leaned over to rest his head against hers, eyes closing tightly. Where only seconds before he'd felt calm and at peace while looking down at the infant cradled so lovingly in Beth's arms, now he fought to push the panic away again. Two? There wasn't just one baby in there, there was two? Of course, now that he looked back on it, it made sense.

The way the girl had begun growing so rapidly and couldn't seem to get the baby to settle for long. It made sense in the way she wobbled when she walked and her stomach had seemed almost three times the size Lori's had. Everyone had just assumed that Beth and his child was going to be big. One glance toward the skinny, screaming infant in Maggie's arms should have been enough for the whole group to realize that something wasn't right.

Beth half relaxed against Glenn, panting heavily as her eyes closed in exhaustion. Her free hand raised to touch his cheek, the coolness of her touch made his eyes open slowly. Daryl pressed a kiss to the girl's damp forehead just before her thin frame went rigid again. It felt like half an hour had passed as she pushed and groaned before dropping back against her brother-in-law again, panting heavily while shaking her head. "I can't.. I can't.. oh God, I'm so tired.." she breathed.

Daryl quickly shifted the hand that wasn't clutching hers up to her damp hair, brushing his fingers through it. "Naw, c'mon, you got this.. you did it once, right? Ain't nothin' to it now, right?" He frowned at how pale she looked, even more at just how tired her face was. She looked as though she could pass out right here and now.

"I want pain meds.. so bad.." she groaned, a pout touching her lips as she looked up at him. Daryl quickly forced a laugh and shook his head.

"You got this, ain't much more left.." he promised, looking toward Sammi for confirmation.

The doctor nodded, a tight smile on her lips. Beth took in a deep breath to steady herself before glancing toward her sister. "How is he?" She asked in concern. Typical Beth, worrying about everyone but herself. Although, Daryl couldn't quite blame her for it this time around. His eyes shot toward the brunette who cradled the infant in her arms, attempting to soothe his screams.

"He's screaming," Sammi murmured, "screaming is good, means his lungs and heart are working just fine." She forced another smile just before she nodded to the girl, "almost there, head's almost out, okay? Little more." She promised.

When Beth sat up to push again, Glen had to support a good majority of her weight, the exhaustion beginning to get the better of the girl. The good doctor instructed that Daryl and Beth each hold onto one of her legs, pulling them back to aid in the process. It was better than nothing. Two contractions later and Sammi happily announced that the head was clear with another full head of hair. "One more big push, Beth." She told the blonde.

Beth whined and shook her head, panting quietly. "I swear to God, Daryl.. next time you get to do the hard work." She cried causing everyone to chuckle softly.

"What'chu mean next time?" He asked with a gentle smirk. Her eyes narrowed in playful irritation as shook her head again. When the next contraction hit the girl gripped tighter to her legs, grunting loudly as she pushed. Daryl leaned close, his eyes on her face as they'd been pretty much all night. "C'mon, baby.. almos' there.." he whispered soothingly.

Only a few moments after the blonde dropped back against Glenn's chest again a second scream began to fill the room. He watched Beth closely as her eyes fluttered back open sleepily. Sammi laughed quietly as she looked at them, "you two are going to have your hands full." She remarked.

"Why's that?" Beth asked, still breathing heavily.

Sammi laughed again gently as she clamped the cord and wrapped the baby in a towel.. the closest thing she could find to keep it warm. "Because you've got two boys."

Beth half laughed/half sobbed as she looked between the doctor and her sister, focusing on the infants in their arms. Slowly, her attention shifted back to Daryl the smirk that lingered on his lips. "You did it." He whispered, still brushing his fingers back through her soft hair.

–

An hour later and Beth and both the babies were cleaned up, the bloody sheet of plastic from the living room had been cleared away. Sammi had helped to show Beth how to feed the babies and both were currently sleeping on Beth and Daryl's bed, surrounded by pillows to keep them from going anywhere. Of course, it wasn't as though they would roll away but the paranoia of new parents had persuaded them.

Back in the living room, Beth was stretched across the couch with her head resting lazily in Daryl's lap. Her eyes were closed as his fingers combed through her hair tenderly. Maggie was perched on the arm of the recliner beside Glenn and Sammi rested on the arm of the couch beside Beth's feet. It seemed like a wave of peace and tranquility had passed through everyone when they'd realized that not only was Beth going to be okay but so would the twins.

Daryl was still in awe every time he glanced over his shoulder toward the bedroom. Twins? He was shocked and confused, though strangely excited. It seemed everyone else was too. Glenn yawned widely, none of them had gotten much sleep. "So.. what are you going to name them?" Her brother-in-law asked.

Beth opened her eyes and looked up at Daryl before shaking her head softly. "I.. don't even know." She'd determined while helping to bathe them that it wouldn't be difficult to tell them apart. One was a little chubbier her pale complexion and the other was skinny with a mole near his lip, almost identical to the one on Daryl's cheek.

"Oh, come on.. You guys have got to have some idea?" Maggie asked in disbelief. She'd had her children's names picked since she was eight years old, it was near impossible to believe that Beth hadn't an idea.

The blonde laughed softly, the movement causing a faint wince from the shooting pain in her abdomen. "It'd be helpful if I had some input from their father but he didn't give me much to go on." She stated, flashing him a mock irritated look before smirking.

His shoulders shrugged lightly in response before Maggie interjected, "well, what'd he give you to go with?"

"'S long as it's not Daryl, Merle or William.'" Beth stated, trying to mimic his accent and causing a soft laugh to rumble through the group. "I'm kinda partial to the name Daryl, though." She said normally, her gaze dancing up toward his face.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head faintly, "course ya are. Ain't there somethin' better, though?"

The others watched the two with little smiles on their lips as Beth frowned, "like what?" She asked, now fishing for suggestions. There may not be many that he might give, but at least she could get something out of him. Or, she'd hoped so anyway.

Daryl simply shrugged, though, "iunno' he grunted. Beth sighed, "we really back to that?" A faint smile began around the edges of her mouth as she looked up at him. Her eyes narrowed up at him, waiting for a better response.

Instead, he asked, "what d'you wanna name 'em?"

The blonde fell silent now, her eyes on the ceiling in thought. There were a hundred names she was coming up with, but only two that continued to play through her mind. She chewed lightly at her lower lip before carefully sitting up, then pushed herself to her feet. Ignoring the concerned looks she got the girl moved slowly to the bedroom, her eyes on the two swaddled little masses laying in her bed. Carefully, she perched herself on the bed, making sure to not only not jostle the sleeping babies but not to cause herself any further ache, either.

Her pale eyes danced over their faces as she thought through the names again. Once more two seemed to settle more in her mind than any others. She gasped quietly at the hand on her shoulder, quickly turning toward the expectant face of her fiance. "You okay?" He asked in concern.

The girl nodded softly and hummed a "mm" before turning her gaze back to the sleeping babies. Daryl knelt beside the bed, his arms folding into her lap as he looked up at her, waiting to figure out what she was thinking. He knew it had to do with the twins but what it was he wasn't sure. Without taking her eyes from the skinny baby she spoke in barely above a whisper, "why can't I name him Daryl?" She asked while reaching out to run her fingertip across the infants palm.

"Why d'you want to?" He countered, leaning forward to rest his chin on his arms while his dark eyes watched her face.

The girl smiled gently, still staring at the baby. "Well, he looks just like you, for one. Look at that hair.."

"Eh, that could all change." He stated, glancing toward the babies for a moment before back to her. "Wasn't an answer, you know. Why you wanna name 'im after me?"

The girl turned to look at him with a faint smile tracing her lips. Beth leaned down to press her lips against his forehead before combing her fingers back through his dark hair. "You think you're such a bad person sometimes and that your family name is horrid. I really wish you could see yourself through my eyes, Daryl." When his mouth opened to retort she shook her head quickly to silence him because she wasn't finished. "Given this chance to change everything about your name, why not take it?" She asked now.

Daryl frowned softly as he looked up at her. Sometimes he hated when Beth used logic because she was usually pretty damned spot on. He leaned up a little to look at the thinner of the babies, the one with the little mole on it's cheek like his. A faint sigh fell from his lips as he shook his head and looked up at her. "'S gonna get confusin' when yer callin' out for Daryl an' there's two of us comin'."

The girl giggled giddily. "So, we'll call him D.J. for short. Unless you're happier with 'Junior'." When his nose wrinkled up in distaste she snickered and nodded, "thought so."

"A'ight, that's one." Daryl prodded, wanting to know what else she was thinking.

Beth chewed lightly at her lower lip for a moment as she turned to look at the chubbier baby. A tiny smile tugged on her lips with the realization that these babies were hers. She had a feeling that soon the overjoyed first time mom thing was going to wear off. Beth knew she'd be exhausted but truthfully, she couldn't be happier. "Well.. I was thinking about the name Hershel.. but.." she frowned softly before turning her eyes on him. His brows rose in question and she forced a smile, "I'm kinda worried it might be a little painful.."

Daryl nodded in understanding. "What was your dad's middle name?" He asked now, his fingers gently massaging her thigh.

Beth smiled as she remembered it. The only times she'd ever heard it was when her mother had been angry at him. Much like it was the most she'd ever heard her own. "Marcus." She finally responded.

Daryl leaned up again to look at the baby before shrugging his shoulder up, "ain't a half bad name." He implied while turning back to her. The smile on the girl's lips widened as she nodded.

"Not a bad name at all." The girl replied while leaning down and pressing her lips to his.

**–**

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	44. Internment

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I'm so happy with the love I received last chapter, it really made my day to see all of those reviews just popping onto my phone. Thanks to all!**

–

The following week was spent with people stopping by to see the twins. All the while Beth seemed paranoid to allow people around them because of the semi-recent infection that had run through the community. It wasn't as if her worry was misplaced, though. Even Daryl seemed hesitant about letting people get too close. Although when Rick show with Carl he couldn't help but to smile as both wanted a turn at holding the babies.

Daryl had been surprised by the fact that D.J. resembled his so greatly, save for the paleness to his eyes. Of course, Sammi had to remind the both of them that those things could change within a couple of months or even a couple of years. Sometimes it just took a bit of time for things like that to have any effect.

While Conrad had hoped for Daryl to be back to guarding the wall a little sooner when the Captain had heard about there being twins he'd become a lot more lenient about it. It wasn't as if he could really put a sleep deprived new father on the wall and expect him to stay awake. Truthfully, Daryl wished that there were a way to have formula on hand, if only so that he could allow Beth a little more sleep.

The twins currently slept in the same crib at the foot of Beth and Daryl's bed and although Beth had told him several times that he didn't have to be awake every time one of the babies cried, he refused to go back to sleep. If she absolutely had to be awake, he would be too. It sucked, he wouldn't deny that one little bit, but he also wasn't going to just sleep through it, either. Sure, he wanted to. The first couple of days Maggie and Beth had taken care of pretty much every single diaper change that had been needed since both knew how to. When it had finally been Daryl's 'turn' he'd cringed back away from it. _'What, you can take down twenty walkers by stomping their heads in but you can't change a crappy diaper?'_ Beth had teased.

He'd given her a dirty look before diving in. When he'd changed the baby that first time–and every time after, if he were honest–all he could think was that it had been less disgusting to dig through the walkers stomach almost two years ago looking for Sophia. He didn't voice that, though. There were usually a lot of bad feelings attached to memories of the little girl.

He and Beth had barely fallen back to sleep after feeding and changing D.J. when they heard the wailing begin. A groan fell from his exhausted lips as he shook his head. Beth had fallen asleep still sitting up against the pillows, he'd rolled onto his stomach with one arm hanging over the bed. "Beth.." he grumbled, reaching out the hand beside the girl until he found her hip and gave it a gentle shake. "Beth, wake up.."

He heard her whine as she moved, crawling toward the end of the bed. With a sigh and a groan Daryl rolled onto his back and pushed himself to lean against the headboard, his eyes barely open. "I miss coffee." He mumbled while rubbing at his face to wake himself further.

When Beth settled back onto the bed beside him again she was cradling the baby against her chest. She frowned softly at him before, "I miss sleep." The girl settled Marcus against her breast as she leaned her head back against the wall.

Daryl felt a smile stirring at the corners of his mouth as he turned to look at her more. "I miss my bike."

"Oh, god.. I'd forgotten about that thing.." she breathed and chuckled quietly. Daryl realized it had been months since either had played the 'I miss' game. He laughed near silently and nodded.

"Mhm, was Merle's before everythin' fell apart, then I took 'er on. Kept that baby purrin' for a long time." He frowned as he thought about the fact that it was stuck at the prison. It was lost to him now. After a moment he looked back to her, brows furrowed, "what'chu mean 'that thing'?"

A smirk tugged her lips as she looked over at him, "I don't know, Dad always said that motorcycles were death traps.. It's always been kinds stuck in my head."

"Thought you wanted a ride at the prison?" He asked now, distinctly remembering her asking about it once before.

"Maybe I wasn't talking about the bike." She countered with a grin. Instantly his cheeks flushed as he glanced away. Sometimes it surprised him just how bold Beth could be. Perhaps it was because there was still that part of him that saw her as something angelic and pure. When he looked back at her she was smiling as if waiting on the challenge from him.

Instead he shook his head softly, still blushing faintly. Daryl was quiet for a moment before, "sometimes I miss when it was jus' you an' me." He admitted, his dark eyes dancing over her pale face.

She smiled and nodded, "me too. I mean, I love my sister and Glenn and everyone else and I'm glad that Terminus is here.. but we did good alone." Beth stated and smiled over at him. Daryl leaned over and pressed his lips against her shoulder. "I kinda miss that bunker sometimes, too." She admitted.

Daryl smirked and nodded, "it's still there, ya know."

Her brows furrowed as she looked down at him, "I would have thought you'd have mentioned it to Conrad by now, sent someone to pick up all that food." The smile vanished from his lips as he sighed quietly.

"I thought 'bout it a couple'a times.. jus' either it never felt right or there was somethin' else happenin'. First month or so I jus'.. I didn't trust it." He stated, knowing that she knew just how he'd felt. Sure, Terminus could have been a spectacular place but it took some time for them to realize that the people here were good. Particularly after everything that had happened with the Governor. Catching the look on her pale face he frowned again, "too much time's gone by now. I say it now an' they're gonna think we was holdin' out on 'em or somethin'."

"We kind of are." She stated and frowned. "Maybe we can think of a way to send some people that way?" She suggested, then realizing something asked, "do we even still know where it is?"

Daryl grinned almost cockily, the expression marred by sleep. "Still got the map."

She laughed and shook her head, "you still have that?"

"Never knew if we was gonna need it or not." He quipped. The girl had to admit that it was smart thinking to keep hold of the map.

She was quiet for a moment, her fingers gently brushing through Marcus' hair as he continued to suckle. "Maybe whenever you go out hunting again you can get a car or truck or something and take Michonne and Carl with you out there? Shouldn't take more than a couple hours, right?"

He frowned in thought before shrugging, "be gone prob'ly a whole day. I dunno, I'll talk to Conrad about it as soon as these guys sleep a little better."

"Daryl.. I've told you a hundred times that you don't have to be awake with me." She tried to scold but the smirk on her lips made it difficult.

His shoulders rose and fell quickly, "ain't right for you to be awake alone."

"I'm not _alone_." She stated, gesturing to the baby cradled against her chest. Her comment caused his eyes to roll up faintly. Technically, she was right but his opinion still stood. It wasn't fair if she had to be awake on her own.

"You're good at this, ya know?" He told her, causing the girl to frown in confusion. He gestured toward the babies, "bein' a mom."

She chuckled quietly, "I had a lot of practice with Judith. Thing is.." Beth paused as she realized Marcus had fallen asleep. A little smile tugged on her lips as she looked down at his pale features before shifting him to rest against her shoulder while she patted his back softly. When she looked back to Daryl he was watching her, waiting for her to speak more. "The thing is, I'd never really seen myself as a mom. Maggie's always wanted kids, ever since I can remember. She'd play with her dolls and pretend she was their mother, Beth spent more time helping her father with the farm work.

She hadn't really put any thought into being a mother until she realized she was going to be one. Beth imagined that it had been the same for Daryl. He'd never thought about being a father until she'd found out she was pregnant. She knew his worry and his paranoia about being a father but honestly he was doing fine and she had faith in him that he wouldn't be anything like his father. "You're not doing half bad yourself, Dixon." She told him before sliding out of the bed to lay the baby beside his brother. After watching the two sleep for a few moments she curled against' Daryl's side.

He sighed softly and shook his head, "'s only cause I got you to talk me through it all." He told her with a smile. Daryl tightened his arms around Beth, then began stroking her silky hair. "Know what else I miss?" He asked.

The girl mumbled a sleepy 'hmm?' against his chest. As he glanced down he realized she was already half asleep and probably hadn't even heard him anyway. He chuckled softly and pulled her closer before closing his eyes. It really didn't take long before he allowed himself to succumb to the sleep his body and mind desperately wanted.

–

Both he and Beth were thankful that the twins weren't like typical babies who awoke every two hours like clockwork, they usually slept for about four hours before waking again. The only problem was that they didn't sleep at the same time, they were never awake at the same time. Though, of course, that was a good thing. Two screaming infants at the same time would have played hell on both of their emotions.

Although, a lack of sleep did a pretty good job of that already. Thankfully, both still managed to get by just fine.

Maggie and Glenn took care of whatever housework there was and brought meals to the both of them. While Daryl was grateful for it he still felt a bit like an invalid because of it. He didn't voice his irritation about it, though. Better not to bite the hand that feeds. Besides, it wasn't as if he really had the energy to go and make himself something to eat, anyway.

A yawn pulled his lips wide as he rolled away from the blonde to lay on his back while one hand rose to rub sleepily at his face. Beth slept through the screams of the baby at the foot of their bed and he frowned as he glanced to her. "Alright, alright, I'm comin'," he grunted while rolling himself out of bed. A quick glance toward his watch told him that they'd only fallen asleep maybe an hour ago. With another yawn he stumbled to the end of the bed so that he could peer into the crib. Marcus stirred but seemed to sleep right through his brother's screams. D.J. on the other hand tossed his little arms around while wailing loudly.

Daryl shook his head before reaching down and gently lifting the baby into his arms. "How's yer mama sleepin' through that, huh?" He asked while rocking his namesake carefully. He was slowly becoming more confident in things such as how to hold the baby properly. Of course, Beth still found ways to scold him about it.

He was assuming she was just being a little overprotective. Not like he blamed her. D.J. calmed slightly as Daryl continued to rock him, though as he slowed his movements to once more yawn widely the baby began screaming again. "Hey, now, cut that out." He murmured, almost sternly while rocking the child again. "You ain't wet an' your mama jus' fed you a little bit ago, what'chu screamin' for, huh?"

Trying to keep the baby from waking Beth or his brother, Daryl slowly slipped out of the room, "gotta shush wit' all that, let your mama get some more sleep, huh?" He murmured and continued to rock the little one. In the living room he spotted Maggie sluggishly getting herself around for the day.

He hadn't even realized it was late enough in the morning for anyone to be moving around. She smiled over at him before stepping up to press a quick kiss against the baby's head on her way to the kitchen. Daryl chuckled quietly, always amazed at how much the boys could brighten someone else's mood. To keep the baby calm he continued to wander around the living room, gently bouncing the boy in his arms as the infant slowly began to drift back off to sleep.

"Beth still asleep?" Maggie asked quietly from the kitchen doorway. Daryl nodded quickly in response as he shifted to lean against the window ledge. "I'm surprised, she's normally out of the bed when they just whimper. She's gonna spoil 'em." The woman said with a laugh tugging at her lips.

He couldn't help but to smile and nod in agreement, "figure she's been up enough lately, she could use a bit'a sleep." He told her quietly, keeping his voice low enough not to startle the baby awake again.

"You've been up, too." She countered, brows raising. "I wake up almost every time the boys start wailing.. I hear y'all talking sometimes." The brunette told him with a little smile. He nodded softly and cradled the boy into one arm, shifting the other to comb back through his hair. "Been meaning to ask," the woman started before pausing. When his brows rose in question she chuckled quietly and pointed to his hair, "you ever gonna cut that?"

He frowned, realizing that his hair was passing his shoulders, nearly as long as Maggie's was now. His shoulders shrugged up slightly. "Thought 'bout it.."

"I used to cut Dad's.. if you ever wanted me to or something.."

He paused for a moment while looking at her before a faint smirk tugged at the corner of his lips, "thanks. Whenever you got the time or whatever.." his free shoulder rose and fell in a quick shrug as he whispered. His gaze dropped to the sleeping baby and fought off the little smile at the sight. D.J.'s tiny thumb had worked it's way into his mouth and he suckled at it in his sleep. At least he wasn't screaming.

"I've still got a bit of time before I have to be on the farm?" Maggie suggested while stepping a little closer so that she could keep her voice as low.

–

Half an hour later and he'd settled the baby back into the crib, then dropped himself onto one of the small folding chairs that they used when guests came over in the kitchen. Maggie had found the scissors she'd used to cut Glenn's hair a couple of weeks back and Beth's trim a month or so ago. She'd asked how short he'd wanted it and Daryl had just shrugged and shaken his head.

Maggie had frowned darkly until Daryl had laughed quietly and told her that whatever she thought was best. Truthfully, it didn't matter to him what the length of his hair was. While this was the longest it had been in his life he didn't mind it much. He also found while standing on the wall and sweating under the sun that he did miss when it was closer to his scalp. Although with winter on the horizon and knowing how cold he usually got he wouldn't mind the length either. Of course, his hair also grew pretty quickly too, so he didn't have to worry about that too much.

His arms folded over the back of the chair as he leaned forward, eyes closing as Maggie ran a comb through his hair and cut. It wasn't until he heard the shuffling footsteps that his eyes opened, slowly starting to sit up. "Don't move or I'll end up slicin' your ear!" Maggie scolded and tapped the crown of his head with her comb.

"Maggie?" Beth's sleepy voice echoed through the kitchen, "what are you doing?"

"Givin' your man a haircut. If he'd sit still, that is."

"Psh, first time I move in near twenty minutes an' I'm gettin' the third degree," he grumbled, though it sounded more of a tease than anything.

Beth frowned as she stepped around her sister, a faint pout forming on her lips as she looked him over. The blonde reached out to rub her fingers across his cheek and he turned just enough to press a kiss against her fingertips. "I liked it long." She admitted.

"That bad?" Daryl asked, feeling his heart rate pick up slightly. While he really didn't care too much about his physical appearance it was only natural to be a little worried about it. Beth quickly shook her head to quell his nerves, though frowned still.

"No, it looks good, almost like it was when we first met you.. I just liked it longer."

"Eh, it'll grow back." He quipped as he felt Maggie brush her fingers along his scalp to knock the excess hair away.

"Just about done, Dixon, don't fidget." The elder girl stated from behind him as the chill of the metal from her scissors brushed along the back of his neck.

"How long have you been up?" Beth asked now while leaning back against the counter.

He shrugged one shoulder up lightly in response. "Got up wit' D.J. 'bout an hour ago." He saw the scolding expression beginning to form on her face and couldn't help but to smirk. He knew that she was going to complain about not having been woke up. He could see it building behind her eyes and glanced away for only a second. "Didn't think you needed to be awake unless he needed you. I got 'im back to sleep." He stated.

The girl couldn't stop the smile that began on her lips. It was amazing how he'd gone from terrified to easily able to rock the baby back to sleep in just over a week. It only made her love him all the more. She knew that there was still a bit of paranoia within him, but it was fading slowly and she knew that she just needed to do everything in her power to help him out.

"Alright, done." Maggie announced as she stepped back, dusting him off a bit before wiping her hands on her jeans. "I'll be back later." The woman realized that she needed to get out to the farms to get some work done before the sun rose too high in the sky. It was simpler to get it done in the earlier hours, before the sun had too much chance to wear her down from the heat.

Beth brushed a few strands of stray hair from his cheek as she leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips. His arms wrapped around her thin waist to pull her closer as he kissed her just a little harder. Her fingers slid up into his hair, a pout forming. 'Hmm?' Daryl hummed the question as he carefully pulled away. The girl sighed and carded her fingers back through his hair again. "I'm gonna miss being able to pull on that." She said ruefully.

Daryl couldn't stop the laugh that fell from his lips as he kissed her again. Her grip on him tightened until she heard a soft crying from their room. A sigh slipped out as she extracted herself from his hold, "parenthood calls." She murmured before kissing the tip of his nose. "You go shower.. get all the hair off of you before you come curling up in my bed." Beth ordered causing his brows to raise.

"Your bed? Since when is it yours?" He demanded while standing, the girl grinned broadly.

"You don't know how marriage works, do you? What's yours is mine, what's mine is mine." The girl teased and winked. Daryl laughed softly and shook his head. When his mouth opened to retort the baby began screaming even louder, cutting off his remark. The girl laughed again as she slipped out of the room to go tend to the child.

**–**

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	45. Starved For Help

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I've come to realize that a lot of people ask me, often in fact, how I manage to post up a chapter every single day or how amazed they are that I can. It's not always easy because with re-reading and reviewing and editing it can take a lot out of me to figure it out.. especially on chapters that aren't solely focused around the main characters of my story. I also try to keep a couple of chapters ahead of what you guys would be reading. For instance as you are reading chapter forty five, I'm currently tying up forty seven. It helps me to stay ahead, just in case there's a day I can't get to the computer. You would think that it would take hours on end to type up a 3,000+ chapter.. it really doesn't take me that long at all.**

**Although, I do have to say that at some point I would like to go back through and re-edit a lot of the chapters because there are several things I am unhappy with and I know there has got to be grammatical/spelling errors everywhere. As always, if there are any plot lines that you would like to see, please feel free to PM me. So many of you have given me ideas that I am slowly working into the story. End Rant, onto the chapter!**

–

Days like today, it was hard not to miss home. It was hard to look out over the barren, overgrown field on the other side of the wall because her mind wanted to see the green growing grass, the farms filled with food for harvest, the traffic that should have been on the road or the people that should be milling about. A sigh fell from her lips as she leaned back on her post, ignoring the chill that the cool wind sent up her spine. Rosie was betting for maybe another five weeks and winter would be here. The nights were already a lot cooler than they'd been even a week ago.

It wasn't the first winter she'd have in Terminus and she was hoping it wouldn't be the last either. Winter meant people got sick, or run down, winter meant freezing her tail up on the wall and food shortages because the fields held nothing to harvest. The farmers would busy themselves with other things until it was time to replant the crops. She was hoping that Jillian–the head of their 'farmers union', as Rosie joked–would get her ass moving on the 'greenhouse' she'd wanted to build at the beginning of this past spring. That way they could at least keep working on crops through the winter.

There would be less shortages that way. She was tired of being hungry but knew there was little she could do about it at the current moment. Her dark eyes danced over the field as she drummed a tune on her crossbow with her nails. The red-head missed music, turning the volume up as high as her ears could tolerate in the car as she drove. It had helped to rid her mind, if only briefly, from the tragedy of her life.

Overall, she knew that most people had something tragic that had happened to them, whether it was before the apocalypse or after when they had to bear witness to friends and loved ones turning. Hers had been a combination of both, really. It wasn't a story she'd shared with people, she didn't need their pity because of her bullshit life. The only one who knew was Conrad and she was certain he'd never told anyone. Hell, she wouldn't have even told him if she hadn't been completely wasted.

A laugh tugged on her lips as as she remembered that night. It didn't matter how drunk the girl got, she always remembered her questionable decisions the next day. Thankfully. Honestly, she missed getting drunk. It would certainly help to break up the monotony that was the days here in Terminus. While that was a good thing, it was also boring. Most every day was predictable.

Wake up, scrounge up something to eat, get in a quick workout, check in at the 'orphanage', get up on the wall, find something for lunch, get back on the wall, shower, scrounge up dinner if she were able and go to bed. Sometimes alone, sometimes with a companion. The biggest surprises they'd had in the last six months was the infection breaking out and Beth's delivery. Well, unless one counted in Carol's treachery and Tyreese and Jada's deaths. She actually missed Jada on occasion. The thin woman had been good company. Actually, she'd been the only person Rosie had come across that was nearly as peppy as she was.

She sighed, wishing for something to happen, something of interest. When there was too much downtime she tended to think on the past and there was nothing Rosie hated more. Her eyes closed with a faint sigh, turning her pale face up toward the sky. It was amazing that she managed not to burn to a crisp out here every single day. Her pale Irish complexion should have left her beat red and sun burnt every day. She attributed the lack of burning to the umbrella she brought along on the hotter days.

Like any other person, when one tried very hard not to think of something, it inevitably found it's way to the forefront of their mind. Rosie was just thankful that the memories were no longer crippling. She easily remembered being a little girl, barely over seven, with her curls pulled into pigtails that bounced against her shoulders as she'd played outside with her friends.

That had probably been the happiest time in her young life. And then, as all good things must, it came to an end. Shattering her childhood with only a few simple words. _'Your mother is gone,'_ even nearly twenty years later she still could hear her Aunt Amelia's voice. Her mother had been going to the supermarket to fetch something for dinner and another car had run through the red light, striking the driver's side of her mothers car. According to what she'd heard her step-father telling her Aunt, it had been quick.

Not like it mattered, her mother was still gone. Her birth father had taken off sometime before she was even born and her mother had married Steven Prior when she was only five. Which meant that as her guardian she had to stay with him. Almost immediately he'd begun drinking himself into oblivion. Rosie was certain she could have handled that.. it was what started a few months later that she wasn't able to deal with. He'd sneak into her room in the middle of the night, reeking of cheap vodka and tequila. The first month or so he'd done nothing but lay in her bed, which at first she'd found comforting. But then his drunk hands would begin to wander.

Even years later she shuddered at the memory. She'd wanted to tell her Aunt but by the time she'd found the courage to do so the woman had died, cancer taking her life. Rosie hadn't even known her aunt was sick until it was too late. She told no one what happened nearly every night until she was almost thirteen and it had been a teacher she'd finally confided in. She had no other family to speak of, her Aunt had never married or had children, her father was somewhere in the wind. All she'd ever had was a name. Devan Connely. Truthfully, Rosie had never even searched the man out.

If he'd fled when he knew her mother was pregnant, what would he have done with a teenage daughter just showing up on his doorstep? With no family, she was passed between foster homes. Some were worse than being with her step-father, others were decent but they didn't care for Rosie's attitude. Perhaps it was because her young and impressionable mind had just learned that sex was a way to alleviate pain, she wasn't really sure, but by fifteen it was on her mind more often than not. She'd flirt with the other foster kids or her foster fathers and it would get her shunted to the next home.

The last home she'd wound up in was a good one, the best she'd ever had, really. She'd been seventeen and her foster father had put her in counseling, he'd taken her out shooting to teach her to hunt. He'd been good to her, as had her foster mother. It had been a real family. By eighteen she'd learned that she was a pretty good marksman and her foster father had suggested signing up for the military. They could continue her training, she'd learn self control and discipline. It was the best choice she ever could have made.

Much like anyone else who joined the Marines, it was straight out of high school. No sooner had she graduated the girl had been placed in boot camp. They'd seen her aptitude for shooting and she'd wound up being a sharpshooter. Of course, the drill sergeants and captains and all the higher ups hadn't had much faith in her. She was small, weighing no more than 120 pounds and standing at 5'4", but she was fast and strong, too. She could get herself out of almost any situation.

She'd seen more war time than most anyone would believe due to her chipper attitude and hyperactive personality. Hell, Conrad wouldn't have believed it if they hadn't worked together once before. They'd been on a mission, a simple one actually to bring water and food to some of the locals. No one had thought it would turn into disaster until it was too late.

They'd taken on enemy fire and Rosie had been with Conrad's unit. She'd thought she was going to die that day, truly and utterly thought she would. Even with the bullet proof vests and the thick helmets that were supposed to protect them, it wasn't enough. She remembered seeing three others fall before the white hot pain hit her. Three bullets. That's what it had taken for Rosie to be on a chopper back to the states. One to the thigh that had splintered her femur, one through her right side and another that grazed her throat. She still carried the scars of each.

And the painful memories of the bullet being extracted from her leg before she was stitched up and sent back to the states to be properly mended. The doctors over there just didn't have the tools to take care of her properly. She'd needed pins in her right thigh to keep the bone together and high doses of antibiotics to fight off the infection that had begun spreading through her blood.

Truthfully, she'd been afraid she would never walk properly again but she got around just fine. Every now and again there would be pain her in leg, the girl just pushed through it because she knew it would keep her strong. Besides, if she allowed it to cripple her then she was as good as dead. She couldn't have that.

When the world fell to pieces, there was Conrad. That was when they'd met up with Cole, who'd been a medic in another unit and was only home on leave. He was due to ship back out within a couple of days.. but never made it.

It was strange to think back on her life like that, strange to realize that regardless of what anyone in the world had gone through it all came down to this. This walker, disease infested, crap ass world. There was no cure, there was no hope of things going back to normal.. there was just no hope. Eventually, everyone would die and turn into one of those monsters.

She wondered, briefly if her step-father had turned, if he were still in prison when it happened or if he was out on parole or whatever happened to pedophiles. Rosie had honestly never looked into it. Once she'd found a good family and settled in with them, the girl hadn't looked back on her old life. Not until everything came crumbling down. She supposed it was just reminiscing, dredging up old memories for the sake of it. Or perhaps it was because she was bored. Her mind needed something to occupy itself and there wasn't much else to do. She'd never been big on reading, so the books that were brought back from the raids didn't interest her much. It wasn't as if there was television or radio to listen to anymore. All of that had gone away years ago.

Rosie sighed as she realized that her fingers were still tapping an unfamiliar beat on the crossbow. How long had she been sitting here? She couldn't remember anymore but she knew that the sun had changed it's place in the sky. If she had to wager a guess it'd been close to four hours. Had that much time really passed her by? Shaking herself to clear her head, the red-head forced herself onto her feet. It didn't seem to matter how much time had passed, things still looked the same on the other side of the wall. Empty, bleak, dreary, dead.

"You okay, Connely?" Conrad's voice broke through her thoughts.

She smiled brightly as her dark eyes turned toward the male, nodding quickly. "When is it not, Captain Riley?" Rosie wasn't sure why Conrad always used people's last names. Perhaps it was simpler for him or perhaps it was something carried over from his time in the Marines. The latter seemed more plausible than anything else.

He shook his head softly, shrugging his broad shoulders up quickly. "You just looked like you were concentrating real hard on something."

She mimicked him by shrugging slightly. "Just thinking about life before all of this, ya know?" He nodded softly. Of course, Conrad knew. She'd told him everything. While there were times that she'd regretted opening herself up to someone else like that, she was also glad that she'd told Conrad. He'd been understanding and kind and for a brief time the two had had a fling. The only reason it had ended was because he couldn't deal with the fact that she couldn't contain her flirty nature.

Sometimes she even missed him but she'd never tell him that. Sometimes she wondered if he missed her, too but she'd never ask. "I was doing that the other day," he told her with a faint chuckle on his lips as he looked out toward the field.

The woman smiled and quirked a brow, "good things, I hope?"

Once more his shoulders shrugged faintly, "some of it." He replied while rubbing at the side of his head. She knew that under the tufts of blonde hair was the scar from when the bullet had embedded itself into his scalp. It was a miracle he was still alive. Hell, it was a miracle any of them were alive at this point. She'd never put much faith into a higher power and less after the world had folded in on itself, after all, what sort of God could allow this? What sort of God could let all the prayers of His followers go unnoticed and unanswered.

She'd known so many that had prayed at the start of all of this and some that still believed to this day but it had never changed her opinion. "How are you doing, Conrad?" She asked, her dark eyes dancing over his handsome face.

The Captain shrugged faintly once more, "alright, tired.. but alright." He was silent for a moment, watching her before, "how are you doing, Rosie?" The girl couldn't stop the little grin that tugged on her lips when he used her name.

"I'm alright."

"You seen Dixon?"

"Which one?" She countered with a brow arching. While there hadn't been a 'ceremony' persay everyone had already begun calling Beth a Dixon. It wasn't as if there was a priest who could make it 'official'. The most official that the whole community could make it was to call the girl by her intendeds last name. It seemed fitting.

"Daryl."

Rosie shook her head slightly. During the span of time after the infection had dwindled away and Beth had actually delivered the twins, Rosie had been careful around the redneck. She'd remembered their conversation in the quarantine unit about backing off of him and she'd been careful. She still talked to him when she saw him around–which wasn't all that often–and though she'd let one or two flirty jokes slip out, she'd watched herself more cautiously than she ever had.

Beth had delivered the twins close to a month before and now that they were a little older Beth and Daryl were spending a little more time outside. Apparently they'd both been making their rounds to see and visit with people today but Rosie hadn't seen either of them. "You?" She asked now.

Conrad shook his head as well, "they're probably spending some time with the people closer to 'em first. You seen the babies, yet?"

Again, Rosie shook her head. "No, I figure I'll see them whenever they make their way around here." She stated and smiled quickly.

The two fell silent for a time, simply watching one another. Rosie wasn't sure why the blush crept onto her cheeks as he stared at her but she felt that she had to turn away. A smirk tugged on her lips as she allowed her gaze to dance out toward the field. Her brows furrowed at movement on the horizon, squinting her eyes slightly to watch several figures moving slowly through the tall grass.

Without a word she knelt and snatched her binoculars from on top of the post she'd been leaning against a short time ago. Still in a crouch she placed them to her eyes and stared out at the figures as Conrad stood beside her waiting for report. It was almost like they were back on the battlefield and Rosie felt herself crouch lower for a moment as if to be unseen. It wasn't the first time she'd done it this way, some things were hard to work out of ones body when they'd been so thoroughly trained for it.

"Hard to tell through the grass, looks like four heads with something following close behind." She told him. Rosie desperately missed her scope. She'd been able to see for miles on end with that bad boy, she was lucky to get three miles out of the binoculars.

She was silent, as was he, as she watched the group slowly shamble through the tall grass. Her gut was screaming that it was more walkers, _'at least it would kill the monotony,'_ she thought grimly. Although, less than a minute later the first emerged into clear view. She was silent as she watched them, brows furrowed before, "Captain, there's seven civilians and a cow."

"A cow?" He asked incredulously.

"A cow." She confirmed with a faint laugh as she held out the binoculars toward him. He quickly took them and looked toward the figures in the distance. A chuckle fell from his lips as his eyes landed on the fat brown cow, a rope around it's neck as it walked along behind the small group.

"Wait. Wait, wait, wait." He murmured, leaning a little further toward the slowly advancing group as if it would give him a much better visual. Another laugh escaped him as he passed the binoculars back, "and two pigs with four other civilians."

"What?!" Rosie grasped them close to her face and laughed. "Oh, my god." Her dark eyes turned from the small group toward Conrad, still laughing softly. "Who travels with cows and pigs?"

"Someone smart!" He stated and waved his arms over his head to draw the small groups attention. Rosie followed his actions and within twenty minutes the red-head was pointing them along the wall, leading them toward the trapdoor. It wasn't smart to leave the cattle outside too long.. they would just attract the walkers. Less than fifteen minutes later and both Rosie and Conrad had climbed down the ladder, followed by any of the other guard who'd seen the fantastic sight as the group had begun to make their way through the tunnel under the wall.

She looked over the tired faces of those who'd arrived, each with a back pack, each with a weapon. "Rosie Connely, Welcome to Terminus." She greeted who appeared to be the leader.

The tall man with dirty, yet sun-kissed, pale skin. He had black hair and the brightest blue eyes she'd ever seen. He was, in a word, beautiful. He had an easy smile that filled his features. The male extended his hand toward Rosie, "Jon. Jon Deacon and man is it good to be here." He stated before reaching the same hand toward Conrad.

**–**

**Reviews? I do realize that I skipped ahead about three weeks from the last chapter. It's just that having Daryl and Beth sit around with the babies for forever would get boring for everyone. Best to jump the story ahead a little and throw in some of the other characters to pass the time. After all, I have a thousand ideas for all this!**


	46. Long Road Ahead

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: The next couple of chapters probably won't be centered around Beth and Daryl, though they will have mentions. Sorry if this irritates anyone, but the side characters have stories to be played out, too! Plus, some of the stuff that happens with some of my original characters plays important parts on further chapters as well as previous episodes of the show. Some of you may see something coming based on this chapter!**

**Side note: Last chapter the guest TuttiFrutti had made the comment about Jon's name. Now. I _am _a bit of a Queen fan (though their prime was when I was younger). I had never really known any of their names, but when the comment was made I searched for John Deacon and now I'm giggling like a madman because I didn't even know. Just know, his name was not inspired by the person.. just as none of my character's names are inspired by anything other than what goes through my head at the time. So, TuttiFrutti, I thank you for making my day!**

–

Conrad froze with his hand clutched into the other male's at the sound of the name. His brows furrowed darkly before he glanced toward Rosie, wondering if he had heard correctly. He didn't say 'Deacon', no, they'd just misheard. After clearing his throat, the Captain mentally shook himself to refocus. "Conrad Riley."

No sooner had his mouth opened in question, the male grinned and began speaking again. "We've been on the road a long time and it is good to finally find this Terminus. I can't even begin to tell you how great it is that my group got here alright." Rosie and Conrad looked at Jon's group. Eleven of them in total, fourteen if you counted the pigs and the cow, all varying in age and ethnicity, all with the same look of wonder as they gazed around the community. "I tell you, man–"

"Did you say Deacon?" Rosie interrupted, earning a frown from Conrad that she easily ignored.

The male's brows furrowed as he nodded, "sure did, why?"

Rosie looked to Conrad again, this time with a look in her dark eyes that the Captain recognized. Of course, both of them knew Sammi's story. She'd told it when they'd found her what seemed like decades ago. While Conrad was certain that her husbands name had been Jon, he also knew that it was a fairly common name. He'd heard of a couple of Deacon's as well, so it was always possible that they weren't the same man.

All the same, Rosie looked determined and Conrad knew there wasn't a thing he could do to stop her from running off to fetch the doc. Even though he wanted to get these people settled in first, he nodded at the young woman and she turned on her heel to run down the road.

"I say something wrong?" Jon asked, his gaze trailing after the red-head.

Conrad quickly shook his head, "no, no. She's just excitable." He stated honestly. The Captain looked over the large group again before his gaze settled back onto Jon, obviously their leader. "Alright, let's get some introductions out of the way and we'll get you settled in."

"Certainly," Jon turned and pointed to a lanky, yet muscular male to his right. "This here's Kevin Matthews." The man looked confident enough with the shot gun he held in his free hand as he extended the other to shake Conrad's. "He was an officer on the force with me and Jamie Evans, here." He pointed to the male on his other side. Save for the height different between Kevin and Jamie he would have sworn the men were brothers, with their dark hair and eyes. All three of the men looked to be mid-thirties, perhaps early forties.

"This charming young woman was our weapons specialist," he indicated a thin blonde with startlingly bright green eyes against pale, weather worn skin. She couldn't have been more than thirty. The woman extended her hand with a smirk tugging her lips, "Tara Hudson." Jon introduced before pointing toward a girl no more than fourteen, "and her younger sister Ana." Truthfully, Conrad hadn't needed the indication that they were sisters, it was easily seen in their features.

Colin and Corey Daniels were twin males in their mid-twenties with light brown hair and bright blue eyes. Logan Davis was the oldest in the group, looking to be mid-fifties, though he carried himself like a military man. Coraline Stevens was a thin blonde with a surprisingly round face. She was pretty with her golden brown eyes, Conrad had to admit and wouldn't have wagered her older than mid-twenties. Jon had described that one as a genius.

Jessica, or Jessie as she corrected Jon, was a thin black woman with long black hair pulled behind her head in a loose ponytail. Her brother Elijah, who also corrected Jon that it was Eli, stood at least a foot taller and resembled his sister closely. Last but not least was Bertha, the cow, and Maisy and Snuffles the pigs. Conrad welcomed each in turn before asking what training any of them had. Other than the four officers, the only other one with any remarkable training was Logan who had been an Army Medic. Most of the younger ones knew how to use weapons from being with the group for so long but didn't have any special training. Coraline, who preferred the name Cora, had tended her grandparents farm but admitted that she wasn't very good.

Overall, the most Conrad felt he could do was to put a couple of them on the wall and some others working the farms, perhaps find something else for them to do around town. There had to be something that they could do or some training that could be given. The Captain had barely turned to address Jon again when he spotted the look on the male's face.

Shock, that's about the only word to describe it. Pure and utter shock as he stared at some point over Conrad's shoulder. His brows furrowed, turning in the direction the other male looked to see Rosie standing beside an equally stunned Sammi. The doctor stood with a hand covering her mouth, eyes locked on the dark haired male.

"S-Sammi?" He breathed and shook his head, looking as though he believed that he were imagining it.

–

Sammi leaned back against the wall, fighting to ignore Cole. The male had been pestering her for the last three days and she'd been steadily avoiding him. It wasn't easy to avoid him, though, since they worked together and roomed together. He'd told her that he loved her, that he wanted to be with her. She simply couldn't find the words to say back to him other than it wasn't possible. He'd asked her why and it had been too difficult to tell him that there was the smallest bit of hope that her husband was alive, despite what she'd said in the past.

While there was even that sliver of hope, she couldn't allow herself to fall for someone else. She just couldn't do it. So when Rosie burst through the door, Sammi was glad for the excuse to leave. "What's going on, Rosie? You're perkier than usual." The woman asked with an arch in her dark brow.

Rosie grinned broadly, "there's new arrivals. That's always cause for cheer, isn't it?" The woman looked as though she wanted to break into a run but Sammi just didn't have the energy to do the same.

"And just why am I needed?" She asked now, though wasn't going to complain about the ability to escape Cole's stare.

"Because there's a lot of them and me and Conrad can't show all of them around at once." Rosie stated bluntly. Sammi stared, disbelieving it instantly. The doctors were never needed, usually a guard would show someone around. Although, there was a bit of a shortage of guards currently. After the infection had run through Terminus they were lacking on all fronts.

She still found it difficult to believe that so many people had died. It would have been a lot worse, too, if the groups who'd gone out hadn't found the appropriate medications to help everyone. She followed slowly beside Rosie, watching the faint skip in the woman's step and couldn't help but to find it irritating. She liked Rosie but like everyone else, the girl's cheery disposition tended to wear her down.

The red-head glanced over at her for several moments before, "so, what was going on with you and Cole? I don't think I've ever seen you give someone the cold shoulder."

Sammi shrugged quickly and sighed, "I don't know. I'm just not in the best of moods today." She stated. It was a lie, of course, but she didn't trust the woman not to gossip. While she was sure over half the community had known of her and Cole's arrangement, due to his macho bragging, that didn't mean that she wanted to confirm it. Rosie nodded faintly, though didn't look as if she completely believed it. "So, how many new arrivals are there?" She asked to change the subject.

"Eleven. Plus a cow and two pigs." The woman reported with a smirk.

The information caused the doctor's steps to falter, "a cow..?"

"And two pigs!" Rosie confirmed and laughed at the look of shock on Sammie's face. "I'm one hundred percent serious. "Me and Conrad about pissed ourselves when we saw them. I was beginning to think cows had gone extinct. We haven't seen one in years now."

"I was fairly certain of the same..." Sammi murmured, shaking her head softly, "not sure I'll believe it until I see it, though."

"Hell, I saw it and I'm still not sure I believe it." Rosie countered and laughed jovially. "Come on, almost there." She instructed, turning down an alley. She could hear several voices at the end of the street and cast a side-long glance toward the Hispanic woman walking beside her. If she were right, things were about to change for the woman. Rosie had always believed that Sammi had looked lonely, hopefully today would change that.

Sammi offered a quick smile toward the chipper red-head, though sort of wished she could just take a long walk around the community to clear her head. No sooner had she turned the corner to see the group standing around Conrad and she knew that wouldn't happen for a while. Seeing the cow and pigs made her laugh softly as she walked toward the end of the street.

Only twenty or so yards behind Conrad and the woman froze in her movements, her eyes on the dark haired male in front of Conrad. He was smiling about something before his gaze rose to land on her. All breath left her lungs as those icy blue eyes landed on her face. She felt her hand raise to her lips, covering the gasp as she attempted to suck in a breath.

Sammi was vaguely aware of the fact that everyone else had stopped talking and turned toward her, but she couldn't remove her eyes from the man. From across the space she heard him whisper her name and felt a dull ache forming around her heart as if it were trying to stop beating. Of course, she knew that were impossible, unless she were having a heart attack. But she was sure that wasn't the case. "Jon?" Her voice was smaller than normal and choked by the tears that were forming in her eyes.

She watched the grin spread across his dirty face as he stepped around the Captain and moved closer to her. Her head shook quickly as she mimicked his movements without even realizing she'd begun walking. Only a few feet from him and the brunette felt as if her knees would give out. His hands found her waist as hers gently touched his cheeks. "I.. I.. I thought you were dead!" She gasped, fighting to hold back the tears.

Jon quickly shook his head and smiled, "no, I.. God, it seems so long ago." He murmured, "I managed to make it back to the house before any of them got a hold of me.. holed up in there while I called Kevin at the station. He made it out of there with Jamie and we.. We tried to help as many people as we could. I tried to call you and tell you I was safe, but you'd left your phone at home." The male laughed as a hand rose to cradle her face.

Sammi couldn't stop the laugh that fell from her lips as she looked up at him, "I never remembered that damn thing. No matter where I went." She remembered. Seeing him brought back so many memories and feelings that she never would have believed would fill her mind again. Her arms shifted to wrap tightly around his shoulders, pulling him close, "I missed you, so much."

He tightened his hold on her waist while turning to press his lips against her temple. "I missed you, too."

–

The rest of Jon's group had been settled into one of the few remaining large homes in Terminus. They felt safer together, no one could blame them. Terminus was new to them and none would feel completely safe for a couple of weeks. It was only natural. They'd all gotten hot meals and showers, changes of clothes and a place to lay their heads. All of them seemed content and in the end that was what mattered the most.

Sammi had opted to avoid the doctor's office and instead lead Jon around the community, both talking with one another to recount the more important details of their lives since the separation. On one hand it felt as if she'd been with him the whole time, on the other it was as if they'd been worlds apart for decades. He held loosely to her hand as they wandered about, chattering quietly among themselves.

Jon admitted that he'd thought her dead as well. He'd searched fervently for the first month, then had chalked her up to a casualty of ..whatever this was. He'd spent the first couple of months just banding with people that they found along the road, making friends.. and enemies.

Not everyone was as friendly as the rest, this much the good doctor knew. They'd had their fair share of disaster throughout all of this so it wasn't much surprise to hear that he and the other two officers from his unit had run across men who only wanted to take what wasn't theirs. He admitted that about a year prior he, Kevin and Jamie had teamed up with a group of men who'd seemed great. They could protect themselves, they were knowledgeable about the world and they seemed like good men.

They weren't. The three only realized after they'd been with the group for close to three months. "We were holed up in this house, ya know, just trying to fight off the summer heat and find something to eat. Wasn't much to eat, honestly. And they started chasing down this three people, this guy, woman and a kid. Couldn't've been more than fourteen." Jon told her while shaking his head. "One of our group wound up dead in the bathroom and they blamed it on this guy, I mean, we know he was in the house but we don't know why he actually killed Lou.. I mean.."

A sigh fell from his lips as he shook his head, "me and Kevin started hearing the things that they wanted to do to these people and.. we just.. we ain't like, you know? So first chance we got we grabbed up Jaime and hauled ass out of there. Found the rest of the group along the way, they were holed up in some apartment building just outside this place in Atlanta.. You'd be amazed at how empty the big cities are now." He told her and frowned.

"At the start of all this I never would have thought that big cities would be safer, some of them have hardly any biters." Jon shifted a hand back through his dark hair, glad that for the first time in months it was clean. "Anyway, we've been roaming with the group we found ever since. We saw some sign a couple weeks back pointing people to Terminus. Most everyone was worried about heading here, thought it'd be just another ghost town. We've seen so many of them..

"With the map there was a note in pink spray paint, looked a little old, but we figured it was worth a shot. We lost a lot of the group we'd had over the last six months. Used to be almost thirty of us." He told her with a sigh. Her hand squeezed his reassuringly, "it's crazy what the world is now, ain't it?"

Sammi smiled and shook her head, "These last two years I've seen things I never would have thought. I really thought at the start of all this that it was just some infection. That the CDC would figure something out and people would be alright again.. but when the cops started coming into places and just... oh god, Jon, it was awful. So many people.. innocent people who should have gotten a fighting chance.

"But they didn't get it because the cops just shot. They didn't care if they were dead or alive or.. whatever those things really are. They just didn't care. And then I figured out it wasn't some infection. I was grouped up with these cops and doctors that had all fled out of some hospital.. one of our group said she couldn't do it anymore. She couldn't keep running every second of the day for her life and if those things were going to eat her anyway she might as well not feel it.

"She cut her own throat. There wasn't anything me or the surgeons or the other doctors could do about it. She cut deep enough to make sure of it. And then barely five minutes later she got back up. She'd never been bitten, she'd never been scratched.. she just.. got back up. We all kinda knew then.." Sammi told him and raised a hand to wipe her face.

"This world is never going to be the same." He told her and she nodded softly in response. "I wish we could go back and figure out what the hell started all of this and put a stop to it."

"I don't think we'll ever know." She stated sadly. It was something that she had come to accept a long time ago. They would never know what started all of this, they would never know how to end it. The world was the way it was now.. sooner or later there would be nothing left alive on this planet. Well, nothing of higher intelligence anyway. It'd be left to the plants and animals of the world.. and the walkers that continued to roam.

He squeezed her hand gently before Sammi lead him slowly back to the doctor's quarters. Now that Jon was here she would need to find them somewhere better to stay.. and she would need to figure out how to talk to Cole. Sammi wasn't ashamed that there had been intimate moments between her and her fellow doctor, she was fairly certain Jon would have had them with someone else along the way. Two years was a long time alone.

Though she wasn't ashamed of it, she also didn't want to have Jon and Cole in the same place for too long. It was only bound to create more tension than anyone would want. His fingers laced gently within hers as she lead him through the streets, still chatting quietly about whatever topics came to mind at the time.

**–**

**Reviews?**


	47. Step-Mother

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language, Slight Fluff**

**Authors Note: I'd like to ask, if anyone is good at making fanart and would like to make a cover photo for this story, I would appreciate it. I'm horrible with most art, so I typically just find a random image. So if there's anything anyone can come up with, it'd be great.**

–

It'd been almost two months since Beth had had the twins and both the parents looked a lot better than they had when he'd seen them almost a week ago. Apparently the babies were sleeping a lot better through the night and Daryl had promised that within a couple of weeks he'd be back to work, though he still seemed hesitant to leave his fiance and children. Rick completely understood.

He remembered that he'd wanted to take months on end off of work after Lori'd had Carl. He wanted to spend every moment he could with his newborn son. Although, when Lori had reminded him that they needed money to live on he knew that there was little choice but to get back to work. Everyone had been supportive at work in telling him to take as much time as he needed to and he found on his lunch breaks–whenever he'd managed one, anyway–he and Shane would make the trip back to his house to spend some time with the newborn baby.

Things had been much simpler back then. Life was just better. Raising Judith was so much different than it had been with Carl, she would never know anything beyond the world that they lived in. She would never know peace and hope like they had when Carl was young. Sometimes Rick had to wonder if Carl even remembered. There were times when he wasn't sure, but then he would catch the kid remembering something that could only have come from a better time.

He didn't call Carl a kid anymore though. At fourteen he was anything but. Hell, he hadn't been a kid since the start of all this. It sucked that the boy had had to grow up so damned fast, but Carl had also taken to it like a champion. He was strong and smart and fast and while there were times when he questioned his son's choices, he knew that in the end Carl would do what he believed with all of his heart was right.. because he was just too much like his father to do anything other than that.

He'd heard about the new arrivals and had seen a couple of them since. The only one that interested him at all was the youngest. The girl about Carl's age. Why did she interest him? Because she'd captivated Carl's attention. Yesterday he'd caught his son flirting awkwardly and was hard pressed to suppress his laughter. His son was just like him. He'd been awkward at that age too, and just watching Carl make the attempt at his macho-ism toward the girl.. Rick had had to walk away.

Besides, Carl was growing up, he didn't need Rick watching him every step of the way, or being the 'embarrassing dad' while he was making a move. So instead he'd went back to work on the wall, helping Conrad and Michonne and Sasha. Sometimes he forgot that Tyreese was gone.. hell, there were times he forgot that Carol, Dale, T-Dog, Andrea and Hershel were gone. The worst were the ones when he forgot that Lori and Shane were both dead. Sometimes he didn't even know how the hell he made it out of bed in the mornings.

Then Judith would babble in her crib in the attempt to get him up and moving and he would remember. He was a father, he was a protector and provider. There were things he had to do to make the world keep going for his kin and he was going to do them. Michonne had had her own place before he and Carl had shown up and when they'd gotten there the father and son had gotten their own apartment. But after the infection had taken half the community away and the warrior had needed to rest and regain her strength, she'd spent so much time at Rick and Carl's that she'd eventually just moved in.

He wasn't unhappy about it at all. Rick liked Michonne, she was great company, she was an amazing friend and she was the best person he ever could have thought to have around Carl.

He'd worked the wall late last night to give Conrad a bit of a break. He figured if Conrad didn't have to be up at the crack of dawn to rally the troops the man could sleep in a bit, or find something more to do with his day. Conrad had to be burning himself out with being on the wall 16 hours a day, seven days a week. So, Rick had talked with Gavin, Michonne and Rosie about taking on a bit of extra time so that Conrad could have the day off.

The Captain had actually been a little irritated about the group going behind his back, but was glad for the day to break. Truthfully, Rick was certain that it wouldn't matter that they'd given him the day, the man would still find his way to the wall at some point or another. Rick had been on the wall from around eleven yesterday morning until close to one this morning when Michonne had taken over for her part of Conrad's watch. He'd gone home and spent a bit of time with Carl, who had still been awake reading a comic Michonne had brought back on a run. He'd eaten something, cleaned his gun, then read a book that someone had brought back from one of the runs god only knew how long ago.

A hand clamped over his mouth, startling him awake. Rick hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep but the moment the hand had made contact he jerked and looked around for the danger, only to have his gaze land on Michonne. She stared hard at him as if waiting for him to react negatively.

Instead, he shifted slowly away, eying her in concern. "Something wrong?" He wondered, glancing around while listening for danger. His first thought was that something had made it through the wall and there were walkers roaming the town. Rick absolutely hated that that was where his first thought would have gone.

"Yeah," she nodded, brows raising slowly, "you're snoring and I can't sleep." A smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth causing him to laugh quietly.

"What time is it?" He asked now, rubbing sleepily at his face.

The woman leaned back on the couch, causing him to realize that he'd fallen asleep on one end and she had curled up on the other. Her shoulder rose quickly in a shrug, "around five? Maybe? I got in about an hour ago. I was almost asleep but your snoring just kept on going." She shook her head lightly, an exaggerated sigh falling from her full lips as she fought not to laugh.

"Sorry.." he murmured, glancing over at her pretty face. "Where's Carl?"

"He worked the fields this morning with Maggie, Beth watched Judith until he was done. Now he's got Judith and they're spending time with Ana." She stated, grinning faintly at the mention of the girl.

Rick groaned quietly and shook his head. While he liked the young girl and thought that Carl and her could possibly have some sort of spark, he was also worried. Flirting and goofing around at that age lead to things that could be troublesome. "Ahh.. Ana."

"What?" Michonne asked with a quirk in her brow. "You've had the 'talk' with him, right?"

"Yeah," he nodded faintly, "back when Lori was pregnant and once after just to be sure he understood.. it's different now, though." Rick stated while sighing and leaning back.

"It's not that much different than it was a thousand years ago, Rick, not really." She countered and shook her head, "except for the walkers."

"Yeah.. and that's all the difference in the world." He told her and sighed softly.

Michonne smiled and shook her head while stretching her long legs out, one on the floor, the other in his lap. Her arms stretched high above her head, moaning quietly when her spine popped. "Carl will be fine, Rick." She promised.

The ex-cop nodded and dropped one hand onto her leg before gently massaging the foot that rested on his lap. She grinned over at him before leaning back a little further on the couch. "Mm, guess I'll have to wake you more often." She teased and winked in his direction. Rick couldn't help but to laugh softly.

"I figure it's the least I can do, since I kept you awake." He retorted. Rick watched her for a moment as she draped one hand across her stomach, the other over her forehead, her eyes on his face. If he were honest, he'd been attracted to the woman since he'd met her. She was strong, she was mysterious and though she'd gone through a lot of crap that none of them could really imagine, she was still kind. She cared for Carl and treated him as if he were her child rather than just a friend's son.

It had been hell when they'd gotten separated after the prison fell and those men had begun tracking them. Carl hadn't really known what to do without the warrior to look to at every turn. Sure, he appreciated his father's opinion, but the boy seemed to value Michonne's a bit more. Rick valued Michonne's opinion nearly more than anyone else he knew. He trusted Daryl's and Glenn's with almost everything he had in him. He'd known the two of them the longest out of everyone left of their group. He hated thinking back on and remembering just who he'd lost over the last couple of years.

Of course, while they'd lost some good people, they had also gained quite a few good ones, too. Beth, Maggie, Michonne. Sasha and Bob. And now everyone within the Terminus community. While he didn't know everyone, he was certain that they would all do their part, that they all would do what was needed to keep everyone else safe. That was what counted in the long run.

His pale eyes danced over her pretty face for a moment before glancing away. Her brows furrowed in concern, fighting against sleep now that she was relaxed and it was quiet. "What?" She asked, staring back at him.

Rick quickly shook his head, "nothing." He lied and reached to grasp her other leg, then pulled it into his lap so that he could massage the other foot. It wasn't right to do one and not the other.

As he watched his hands work she sat up slowly and shifted herself closer. "That's a lie." She stated in a quiet voice. Rick glanced up at her for a moment before shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders at the same time, keeping his gaze focused on the task at hand. "Come on, Rick. What's going on in your head?"

At forty years old he should be able to voice these things better. But how could he tell the samurai that he felt himself falling for her? How could he tell her that he'd liked her for over a year? The only woman he'd ever truly cared for was Lori and it had been hell to get over her. Even after everything they'd gone through together it hadn't been easy for him to get over her or her death.

"Hey." Michonne's soft voice reached his ears as she extended a hand to gently cup his chin, angling his face upward so that he would have to look at her. He chewed at the inside of his cheek as he stared at her, fighting to come up with the words he needed or a sufficient lie. "You can tell me anything," she told him.

Rick actually let out a laugh at that. How he could tell her what he wanted to was beyond him. Her face was so close to his that he could smell the soap on her skin, he could see the faint scar on her right cheek that he'd never really asked about. When he laughed the woman smirked, "what's so funny?"

"Nothin', I just.. I know that." He told her. He knew that he _could_ tell her anything but he didn't know _how_. She nodded softly, though didn't move away. Michonne watched him as if waiting for him to continue, to tell him whatever had been on his mind. Rick didn't understand how he felt like some teenager trying to voice his crush to someone. He was usually good with his words, good with telling people what they needed to hear, but in this situation it was just too damned difficult.

_'Why say it?'_ He asked himself mentally. The woman arched a brow as she stared at him, just watching and waiting. Did she anticipate his actions? Possibly. After taking a steadying breath he leaned over, closing the space between them until his lips connected with hers. He felt the woman stiffen for only a moment and he considered pulling away with some stupid excuse, then her hand shifted from his chin around to the side of his neck while pressing her mouth a little harder against his.

Rick hadn't really expected the woman to kiss him back, actually he was expecting more of a slap than anything and was pleasantly surprised by her reaction. She moved again, without breaking their contact, to straddle his waist as her arms tightened around the back of his neck. His hands gripped into her hips a little harder to pull her flush against him.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed, only that he couldn't hear anything over the rush of his blood pulsing passed his ears or that a fire seemed to radiate from the contact of their lips throughout his entire body. Her fingers gripped into the hair at the back of his head as she deepened the kiss by tracing her tongue across his lower lip. His sought hers out instantly, unable to think of anything else at the moment except her lips on his, her fingers tangled into his hair, the feel of her remarkably smooth skin under his fingertips.

"I KNEW IT!" A familiar voice said loudly just before the door to the apartment slammed, snapping the both of them out of their trance. Michonne quickly extracted herself from Rick to drop onto the couch beside him as the both of them looked up toward Carl, who stood in front of the closed door with his sister cradled against his side. "I knew there was something going on between you two!" The boy stated with a grin forming on his lips.

Michonne rubbed her thumb across her lips with a guilty expression and Rick couldn't help but to be reminded of a teenage girl busted doing something she shouldn't have been by her father. His gaze trailed from her pretty face to that of his son, staring at them in a mixture of shock and amusement. He cleared his throat and brushed a hand back through his hair, "now.. Carl.."

"Seriously, Dad? You're not really going to tell me that nothing is going on, are you?" His son looked disappointed by this and quickly shook his head. Rick glanced toward Michonne, who grinned at him behind her hand and shrugged her shoulder up.

Rick fought not to grin right back before shifting his attention up toward his son. After watching the boy's expectant expression for a moment he shrugged, "I.. don't really know what's going on at this point." He admitted.

Carl snickered quietly and shook his head, "well, figure it out okay? I'm tired of watching you guys sneak looks at each other and tired of telling people that 'you're just really good friends'." He stated, still smirking at the two of them. "I have to get Judith a new diaper before going to get dinner. You guys should get something to eat.." he trailed off, once more laughing under his breath before slipping from the room.

Rick rubbed at the back of his neck before glancing toward the warrior who was clearly fighting not to burst into laughter. "Well.. that was.. unexpected." He stated.

"Which part?" She challenged with a quirk in her brow.

He laughed quietly in response and gave a tiny shake of his head. "Pretty much all of it."

Her gaze danced toward the bedroom Carl had vanished into before back to Rick with a grin slowly tugging on her features. He licked at his lips, still tasting hers and smiled back at her. Rick only now became aware of just how hard his heart was still beating within his chest. He hadn't intended for things to get as heated as they had, but certainly didn't regret it either.

The two sat in a semi comfortable, yet slightly awkward silence, while exchanging quick glances and smirks until Carl slipped back out of the bedroom with Judith on his shoulders. One of his hands held onto her ankles to keep her from falling, the other held his hat. He glanced to the two for a moment and shook his head. "Beth made dinner.. if you two can keep from making out for ten seconds." He teased and laughed as he went out the door.

Rick sighed, still fighting not to laugh, "why do I feel like we will never live this down?" He asked as he turned to look at her again.

She chuckled and shook her head softly, the braids dancing around her thin shoulders, "because we won't." The woman countered and he couldn't stop the quick laugh that escaped him. While his head was indescribably clearer than it had been when her lips were pressed so firmly against his, Rick still felt as if he were swimming. His pale eyes traced over her face again, watching her for the moment. A slow grin formed on her full lips as she looked at him, "you know.. if we're not going to live it down.." the woman slowly shifted closer to him, "we might as well make it count."

Neither of them put much more thought behind it as they leaned in close once again to allow their lips to collide. Only moments later and Rick's arms had wound around her waist to drag her back into his lap. Her fingers tangled into his hair again, pulling his mouth harder against hers...

**–**

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	48. The Grove

**Disclaimer: Do not own _The Walking Dead_ or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I know that many of you wanted more Bethyl moments in the last couple of chapters, but sometimes it's required to look at something else, otherwise the brain tends to become too befuddled to keep going. We're back with Daryl this chapter, though do expect some later chapters to be from someone else's POV.**

–

The twins were going on three months old and thankfully sleeping through the night. Daryl had started to wonder if he and Beth would ever get another good nights sleep. It had taken a lot of convincing in order for Daryl to get the approval he needed for his small hunting party to leave Terminus. Had they just been going out into the woods he was certain that he would have gotten what he needed in a matter of minutes but considering he planned to go a lot further from the city..

His plan was to go back to the bunker he and Beth had been in ten months ago and collect all of the food, provided it was all still there anyway. In order to go to the bunker, though, Daryl had to lie and say they were only going hunting because if he'd told the truth about the bunker Conrad and the rest of the community would probably have been in an uproar. Even Michonne and Carl didn't know about the bunker. He'd had to get Conrad's approval in order to get a van to take that far away.

Of course, he'd told the Captain that they weren't really going that far, just needed the van to haul back the kill. It had taken some convincing but Conrad had approved in the end. Then he'd had to make sure Beth would be alright with him going. Normally, he wouldn't have worried too much about her approval because she would have told him to do what he thought was best but with the twins.. well, he didn't want to leave her alone for too long to deal with everything. Needless to say, she hadn't minded.

The hardest was getting Rick's approval to take Carl. The boy had been part of Daryl's hunting group since the beginning and he wanted to keep it that way. Carl was good, he was tough and he was smart. He didn't expect the kid to run at the first sign of trouble, which was all he could ask for in the end. Daryl couldn't lie to Rick about it, though. His friend needed to know exactly where they were going and why. Naturally, Rick understood why Daryl wasn't making a public announcement about the real reason they were going on the trip but he also wasn't completely keen on the idea of his son going so far from Terminus with minimal support. In the end, though, the man realized that sending him with Michonne and Daryl was the best case scenario. Both were expert fighters and would do everything possible to bring his son back alive and unscathed.

Michonne and Carl didn't know where they were going, however, until they were already on the road. Conrad had wanted to send a few extra men along, just in case there was trouble but Daryl had assured him that they were fine and didn't need the extra weight in the car. So long as no one else had discovered the bunker, they would need all the room they could manage within the van for everything.

"So, you mean to tell me that there's been a cache of food within a six hour drive from Terminus and you never told anyone?" Carl asked from the backseat, sounding astounded.

Daryl frowned at the boys reflection in the rear view mirror, "first month or so there I wasn't sure I could trust it. Not after everythin' wit' the Governor. By the time I started trustin' people there, I couldn't just tell 'em that I knew about the place."

"I understand. Hell, I was there for a while before I actually trusted anyone." Michonne stated and looked back at Carl, "everyone in Terminus would have thought that you were purposely withholding the food." Daryl offered a faint smile over to the woman, glad for her back-up. If there were one person he could count on to understand the inner workings of his paranoid mind (besides Beth) it was Michonne. She and him weren't that much different, even though they were hardly alike either.

Carl frowned again as he shifted in his seat. His hat rested on the seat beside him on top of his shot gun. Daryl had made sure that each of them was well armed for the trip. Knives, guns, ammo. Of course, he had his crossbow and Michonne her katana. They had to make it look as though they were actually going hunting. He actually hoped they would be able to find a deer or two.

"Okay.. so how are we going to pull it off if we come back with a store of food that none of us knew it was there?" Carl asked now, brows arching.

At that, Daryl actually grinned broadly. "Already a step ahead of ya, kid." He stated. Of course he had a plan. It would have been stupid not to!

"Do tell." Michonne asked, turning slightly in her seat to place her back against the door so that she could see both men at the same time.

"See, we're goin' into the woods. Ain't that hard to say we either just stumbled across a cottage that was untouched or that we had to hide in it from a herd of walkers. So long as we all say the same thing no one would have a reason to think otherwise." He told them as he drove. They'd been on the road for nearly an hour and it was quiet. They'd passed a couple of walkers along the side of the road at one point or another but hadn't been too bothered to do anything about them.

After all, it was unlikely that those walkers would do much more than try to follow them and while Daryl was going at least 60 miles an hour where he could, it would be impossible for them to. He glanced toward Michonne to see her smile slightly and nod in agreement with his plan before his gaze shifted to the mirror to check on Carl. The boy nodded a bit as well, "it could work. So, just you and Beth know about this place?"

"Well, now you, Michonne and yer dad."

"Wait, you told my dad? I'm surprised he let me go this far from Terminus." The boy stated in shock. While he knew that his father did pretty much everything he could to keep his children safe, Carl was also growing up. He was steadily leaving behind everything boyish, especially in appearance. From the fall of the prison Carl had grown nearly a foot with muscle forming through his arms and legs from having been on the run with his father for so long.

Michonne frowned back at the boy over her seat, "it helps that your dad knows Daryl and I are with you. Besides, your father trusts you." She half scolded. Carl nodded in defeat, knowing that the warrior was right.

While it wasn't widely known through Terminus, the three in the car at least knew that something was going on between Michonne and Rick. Of course, that was mainly because Michonne was in on it and Carl had walked in on them. Daryl only knew because Rick had confided in him almost a week ago. In truth, there had been a hint of jealousy on Daryl's part, only because he'd had a slight attraction to the woman and because she was one of his closest friends. It had evaporated quickly, though, as he'd realized just how... right they were for one another. Rick and Michonne that is.

The woman had been treating Carl as if he were a son of hers for a long time already and nothing had changed since she and his father had made things a little more official. Honestly, Daryl was happy for them. If anyone deserved a bit of happiness in this fucked up world it was Rick. He'd lost a lot more than most people. Of course, he still had a great deal. That didn't matter, though, Rick deserved to be happy and so did Michonne.

He couldn't help the little smile as Carl leaned back in his seat and looked toward the window. Half an hour later and the boy was asleep under the gentle rocking of the car as Daryl drove. Michonne was quiet as well, it made Daryl wish for something to play on the radio. It'd been so long since he heard music and he missed it like mad. Every couple of miles he would check the map he'd drawn almost a year before, the page yellowed with age and the ink difficult to see in some spots.

As he drove his body seemed to turn on auto-pilot, doing what it would normally do without putting much thought into it as his mind drifted elsewhere. Daryl couldn't help but to wonder what Beth and the boys were doing, how they were doing, if the boys were giving her any trouble. He prayed that they weren't. D.J. could be quite troublesome when he wanted to be. It amazed him, honestly, to look at the boys. While they were too young to actually say too much about, there was still so much _to_ say. They looked alike in appearance, save for the small mole that made D.J. identifiable, they were polar opposites in personality.

Marcus seemed more vocal, crying when he wanted held or fed or changed or just to cry. D.J. was a little more reserved, just whimpered every now and again as if to let them know he was still there. When the boy was awake, however, he was much more physical. D.J. tended to flail his arms and kick his legs around often as if trying to get onto his feet, whereas Marcus was content to just lay there and observe everything around him. Daryl had a good feeling that Beth had named the boys appropriately because D.J. was so much more like him than his brother.

Everyone from the old group seemed to love spending time with the boys, Sasha visited often with Bob, at one point Carl had been coming over every day with Judith but now that Anna was in Terminus he spent a lot more time with her. Maggie and Glenn spent every moment that they could with the twins, Michonne and Rick stopped by often enough.

He'd been glad that Sasha hadn't held him, Rick or Michonne responsible in any way for her brothers death, she'd voiced at one point that she just wished she'd been the one to take Carol down. Admittedly, Daryl still had nightmares about Carol and the damage she could have done. He was fairly certain that it was because he'd never gotten the chance to see her dead body. That final piece of closure would never be his. Most nights his sleep was dreamless, void of anything that could startle him awake, though when the nightmares took hold they were usually pretty bad. Thankfully they seemed to be few and far between anymore.

"Have you heard anything I've said?" Michonne's voice cut through his thoughts, causing him to mentally shake himself back to reality.

Daryl glanced toward the woman, then the mirror to see Carl still asleep in the backseat. "Mm," he hummed and shook his head, "sorry."

The woman laughed and shook her head, "it's fine. I figured I was talking to myself." She teased.

A smirk tugged his lips as he glanced over at her. "What was you sayin'?" He asked now.

"Oh, nothing important."

He flashed her one of his no-nonsense looks, causing her to grin faintly before shaking her head again, the braids bouncing around her shoulders in the process. "Nothing, really. Was just wondering how Beth's doing with the boys?"

"'Bout as good as expected, I s'pose."

"And are things as terrible as you'd thought?" She asked now. Daryl knew she was indicating the panic attack he'd had months ago in the 'orphanage'. He still remembered that day so vividly, yet it was partially clouded over due to his anxiety at the time. Everything had seemed so hopeless back then. There were still times when things seemed hopeless, though, and Daryl was okay with dealing with those times.

As long as he never had to worry like that for Beth again, everything would be alright. "Nah.. not really. I mean, it's a lot diff'rent than I would'a thought, though."

"Two babies is definitely different." She countered, though nodded for him to continue.

Daryl took in a little breath and frowned as he once more stole a glance back toward the sleeping teen. "I dunno.. I mean, I ain't gotta worry that she's gonna die, now.. but.. it's.." he sighed, having trouble wording what he wanted to say. "It's a diff'rent kinda worry now."

"How so?"

He pulled one hand from the steering wheel to scratch his cheek before brushing it back through his short hair, "before.. I was worrin' that she was gonna die, ya know? Thinkin' that havin' a baby was gonna kill 'er. Now the baby's here an' it ain't just one. Sometimes I still worry that when them boys get older I'm gonna do the same bullshit my old man did." Michonne knew a fair amount about his troubled past, they'd talked here and there about it, whenever both were comfortable enough to actually discuss it.

She frowned in response to his comment and shook her head, "there's no way you could be." She told him bluntly. "There's too many of us around to allow it." A faint smile tugged on her lips causing him to sigh yet again.

"My old man was good at hidin' it, Michonne.."

"And you are so worried that you would be like him that there's no way you ever could be." His brows furrowed at that, glancing over at her in confusion. It was almost as if she'd just sprouted big rabbit ears on the top of her head. "When you try hard enough not to do something or you remind yourself that you don't want to be like someone else, you usually turn out better." She stated before reaching out and gently squeezing his shoulder. Daryl nodded and fell into silence, thinking about what she'd said.

–

The sun was getting higher into the sky, slowly warming the car further. He and Michonne had already put their windows down to fight the heat wave. All of them had bundled up in jackets and thicker shirts because it'd been so chilly the last couple of days that none of them had anticipated the sudden warmth of the day. While it was appreciated, none of them were too happy about being stuck in an overheating van with thick clothes stuck to their bodies from sweat.

When Daryl pulled into the drive of the old house he was grateful that not only had he managed to find the place again but that he could get out of the car and stretch his legs. Grasping the crossbow he climbed out and stood still for a moment, listening to the woods around them for anything that might be headed their way. Everything was silent, save for the occasional warble of a bird in the distance. After the small group had stretched their legs and their backs Daryl led the way up to the house.

With the door open, he hammered his hand against the wall and listened in silence to make sure the house was empty. As soon as he had the confirmation the male slipped into the house and quickly found the patch of rug that covered the trap door. "Was it hidden when you and Beth found it?" Michonne asked, watching him.

"Yeah, only reason I ended up findin' it was cause I kept hearin' the walkers groanin' an' jus' couldn't find 'em. Ended up kickin' the rug aside an' found the door. I 'bout shit myself when I got down in there." He commented and laughed quietly.

"Why?" Carl asked in return.

Daryl flashed the boy a 'you'll see' sort of look before throwing the trap door open. Once again he stood still and listened to the silence before descending the stairs with the crossbow held loosely at his side. It looked identical to when he and Beth had been here all those months ago, save for the layer of dust that had made a home on top of everything. At the bottom of the stairs he paused long enough to look around, remembering the chocolate chip pancakes the girl had made for him. The games played and the laughs they'd managed here.

"Oh. My. God!" Michonne's voice broke through his thoughts as she and Carl stood in front of the shelves of food. He grinned broadly as he walked toward them, "I see what you mean.." the warrior breathed, hesitantly reaching out a hand toward a box of sealed graham crackers. She moved as if she were afraid to actually touch any of it.. as if it were a mirage that would vanish as soon as she drew too close.

Carl stood in stunned silence for several long moments, simply staring at the food on the shelves before he cheered happily. "Do you realize how many people this could feed? Daryl, we're gonna be set for at least a month! Maybe longer." He exclaimed as his eyes darted over the shelves.

"Well, c'mon, ain't got all day. Let's get 'er up to the car." The elder male stated with a grin.

The next two hours were spent clearing everything out of the bunker. Every box and can of food, every game and book on the shelves, they'd even stripped the beds and gathered up the clothing in the building. Anything that could and would come in handy was packed into the back of the van. There was still a bit of room in case they happened upon anything else, or managed to get some hunting in.

After the bunker was cleared Michonne and Carl decided to explore the rest of the house, just in case while Daryl followed along behind. He'd checked the place out the last time he was here with Beth. It'd been virtually empty then and it still was now. Carl wandered toward the garage. He laughed when he returned only a few moments later with two fishing poles. "Think we can catch some fish?" The boy asked.

"Worth a shot.. jus' gotta find some water to fish in." Daryl commented and glanced toward Michonne. She made a little face at the two of them but followed back to the van regardless. "What, don't like fish?" He asked once they'd settled back into the vehicle.

"I like them just fine, I've just never liked catching them." Carl rolled his eyes and shook his head, bringing a smirk to Daryl's lips as he started the van and turned out of the drive.

A glance down at the gas gauge told him they had more than enough to make the trip back to Terminus as well as find a good fishing spot. His hope was that Michonne and Carl could fish and he'd try to hunt a bit.

–

Close to an hour had passed when Carl tapped his shoulder, breaking his concentration while gripping the wheel. "There!" The boy was pointing toward the passenger side. At first, Daryl saw nothing but trees, trees, and more trees. And then through the spaces he saw it. Bright and blue and shimmering. A lake in the clearing.. How would they get in there, though?

"Good eye, kid." He commended before glancing toward Michonne. The woman had opted to take a quick nap while they'd driven back toward Terminus, searching for a good fishing spot along the way. He continued driving while looking for a way for the small group to get into the clearing. Daryl nearly passed a turn off, the old dirt road overgrown with grass, and quickly hit the brakes before throwing it into reverse.

Michonne only jerked awake as the van bounced along the old road, grasping at the katana in her lap as she looked around for the danger. Realizing there was none, she visibly relaxed back against her seat. "Where are we?" She wondered aloud.

"Good fishin' spot." Daryl stated and smiled faintly at her look of disapproval. "Hey, we gotta eat, right." She made another face at him before rubbing at her eyes to wake herself more.

He drove up the road until they spotted a large house, mostly hidden by the thick trees around with a dock in the back resting right on the lake. The first thing the group checked was the house (where they found even more food than they were expecting) before they wandered out toward the dock. An old row bow was roped to the dock and Daryl wasn't completely sure on it's stability.

"It should be alright." Carl voiced as he placed one foot into the boat and pushed down to see how much weight it would bear. When he felt a little more confident in it, the boy stepped completely off the dock. The boat wobbled unsteadily as he settled himself onto one of the wooden seats and looked up at the others. "Andrea taught me how to fish back when all this started, I still remember." He told the two.

Daryl reached out and patted the back of Michonne's arm. "Have fun." He stated while taking a step back.

The woman's brows furrowed slightly, "what do you mean?"

"Well, there's only two fishin' poles an' three of us. I got the bow, so I'm gonna go scout out the woods an' see what else I can find while y'all try to get us some fish." The woman looked as though she would protest for a moment, but sighed darkly. Obviously she figured that one of them needed to be with Carl and it only made sense that Daryl be the one to go off alone. That didn't mean she had to like it, though.

"Don't get yourself killed out there, Dixon." She warned before settling into the boat across from Carl.

Daryl couldn't help but to smirk broadly as he stepped away from the dock. "Jus' catch some good ones." He ordered before loading the crossbow as he walked out toward the woods.

**–**

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	49. Hide & Seek

**Disclaimer: Do not own ****_The Walking Dead_**** or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I apologize greatly for this chapter having taken so long to post up. I know I mentioned a couple chapters back that I might be slow for a while and it finally hit. I've had a lot of things going on personally which have made me pretty slow and unable to even get to the computer some days to work on anything. I feel badly because I know a lot of you are waiting for updates. With all the drama in my family life, I've also started a new job which is highly demanding and it's taking a lot out of me. Most days when I get home I'm so exhausted that I can barely keep my eyes open, which is just another reason I've been away. I apologize for the delay, sincerely.**

–

Daryl had left at the crack of dawn with Michonne and Carl to go find the bunker again and take whatever supplies they could find within. Beth realized, now that it was mid afternoon, that this was the first real time she and Daryl had been apart since the prison had fallen. She didn't count the time he spent on guard duty on the wall. She didn't count the time he'd been in quarantine. During those times he had still been within Terminus and while there was always a threat, even within the safety of their walls, she'd at least known where he was all the time.

Now? She hadn't a clue. By now he should have found the bunker and raided it, by now he should have been on his way back to Terminus. Did that resolve any of her worry? No. Not in the least bit, especially considering he had Michonne and Carl along. While she trusted that all three were experienced enough to be out away from the community, it didn't make her any less paranoid that something would happen. If only because she knew that anything _could_ happen.

They could run across a herd of walkers, they could run across crazed humans.. hell, if she thought completely logically about it, any of them could have been injured in more ways than she'd ever believe on this simple excursion. She had to continuously remind herself that they were strong, they were great fighters, they were experienced and that they would all make it back. Her primary concern was always Daryl but that didn't mean she didn't worry for the other two as well.

It scared her more than she was going to let on that he might not make it back. It scared her that he was so far from her. Before she'd fallen for him, she might have worried where he'd gone, she might have worried if he was alright, now the fear was nearly crippling. If not for the knowledge that the twins were depending on her for everything Beth might have just curled into bed and stayed there all day.

But she had to be up and around, she had to make sure the boys were happy. Marcus seemed to demand much more attention than his brother and she found that Daryl Jr. was so much like his father just from that simple trait. She knew that at some point it could change, the boys personalities could easily flip over the years until they were completely different from what they were now.

Beth wished for the days when she could have just gone to the supermarket and bought a sling to settle the babies into, it would certainly make it simpler for her to get around during the day. As it was she either had to sit at home and wait for Maggie or Glenn to come home or hope that someone else would show to allow her the ability to get out of the house for a short time. That was probably the most frustrating thing for her as a parent, the inability to leave the house without both children attached to her side. Since both were now close to fifteen pounds a piece it was even more difficult.

The days when she would watch Judith weighed on her more heavily than they would have six months ago. This was due to the fact that Judith was now walking, she was no longer a chubby baby but a toddler. She waddled around and managed to get into everything. If not for the twins she would have been content to allow the little one to bang on the old pots and pans in the kitchen but the noise seemed to irritate Marcus and would send him into a crying fit. So, instead she would have to continuously find quiet activities for Judith so that the boys could continue to get their rest.

If she sat down for more than twenty minutes it was almost an assurance that the little girl was into something she shouldn't have been. Twice already today she'd caught the toddler attempting to play in the toilet. Had it been perfectly clean she might have just resigned herself to cleaning the mess later and allowing the toddler to have some fun before giving her a bath. Unfortunately, the world they lived in didn't much allow for a perfectly clean toilet.

It was honestly a relief when Rick opened the door around 4pm. As soon as he scooped the child into his arms Beth allowed herself to drop into Glenn's chair with a heavy sigh falling from her lips. "Rough day?" He asked as his brows arched faintly.

Beth forced a smile and nodded, "she's walking a lot more than she used to. It gets to be a little difficult chasing her around while trying to feed one of the boys."

"I can find someone else to watch her.." Rick began.

The thought caused a frown to form on her features almost instantly. Beth shook her head, "no, no. I don't mind watching her at all, Rick. It can just be a little stressful. It's fine, really. I love Judith." She amended, hoping that she hadn't caused him any worry.

The frown that etched it's onto his mouth told her that she had, though. "Really, Beth. You have a lot of your own things going on. I should have found someone else to watch her a while ago."

"What better place than here?" She countered.

"She was alright with Mika and Lizzy before.." he began but once more Beth shook her head to silence him.

"They barely have enough people there to keep an eye on the children already there. Besides, it's almost constant that they're teaching the older kids something or running around with the older kids. The boys are closer to Judith's age anyway, within a couple of months they'll all be playing together. Really, it's not a big deal."

"Maybe we just need someone to check in on you more often or give you a hand.." he suggested.

Beth laughed in response, the idea of someone sitting here and helping her all day long was comical. Everyone was already busy with their own things, they didn't need to check up on her and make sure she wasn't losing her mind. The simple thought of having someone with her all day was appealing because she would at least have someone to converse with. Children under two years old didn't offer much as far as coherent conversation was concerned. While the idea was intriguing, Beth also didn't want to take anyone away from their own work.

"I'm fine, Rick. I promise. I love watching Judith and I wouldn't want her anywhere else."

"Alright, if you're sure."

Beth nodded sharply and smiled, "I am."

Rick bounced the toddler on his side, bringing a cheerful little giggle from her as she clutched onto his shirt to steady herself. Beth could tell that he was contemplating leaving and was glad when he chose to settle onto the couch instead. "Other than it being a rough day, how are you?" He asked when his gaze connected with hers.

The girl raised her shoulders in a quick shrug, "alright. A little tired from being up so early and chasing her around the house half the day."

He nodded faintly as he settled the girl onto the floor by his feet. Her small hands began tugging on his boot laces with a look of intense fascination. "You know, I remember after Lori had Carl," he began and fell silent for a moment. Beth understood that not only was he remembering his deceased wife but a better time in this world. A time that they would likely never see again. Rick cleared his throat and gave himself a mental shake before looking back to the blonde, "after Lori had Carl she seemed alright and then she just had this real bad case of baby blues."

This wasn't an unfamiliar term for Beth. Her father had used it when talking about her mother. Her mother had been depressed for a couple of months after she'd had her. According to Sammi it was more common than most people might have believed. Postpartum depression, from what Beth understood it wasn't something that someone easily broke out of and was more than glad that she hadn't had much of any depression.

There had been a couple of low points since the twins were born, though they were the typical sort of things: worry about what could happen to them, worry that she wasn't producing enough, worry that there might be something wrong with one of them and once or twice fear that she was already managing to fail them. She found herself discussing every one of these with Sammi and the woman had smiled at her, shaken her head and stated that as long as she was willing to talk about it, there was less of a chance she would become depressed.

"She got better, though." Beth stated with a smile, looking toward the bright side of things.

Rick nodded and chuckled quietly, "yeah. She ended up seeing a therapist, took some medications and called my mother so that she could babysit while Lori got out of the house."

"Are you suggesting I need to get out more?" She felt a brow slowly arching as she looked at him.

His shoulders rose and fell quickly while shaking his head, "it might be a good thing to get away from the kids for a bit, yeah. Of course, things were a little different then. Lori could store some milk in the fridge or buy formula for Carl. It's a little more difficult for you to do that."

The girl nodded sadly, "it's alright, though. I want to spend every minute I can with them. Of course, I want a long hot shower and a truly good nights sleep, too. I don't think I'll get either of those until they're a little older, though."

"No, not really." He quipped with a laugh. "My father told me before Carl was born that we'd never know a good nights sleep again. So far it's been pretty true."

"Oh, well thanks for giving me a little bit of hope!" Her reply was sarcastic, though there was laughter in her words to show that she was teasing. Rick laughed quietly and raised a hand to scratch at the back of his head.

The two fell silent for a little while, watching Judith play with his boot laces happily. It was amazing how focused a child could become on something so simple. Beth actually wished for television sometimes. The ability to turn on a children's show and just walk out of the room for five minutes and know that the young one was captivated enough by the bright colors and singing voices was probably one of the most appealing things in the world.

She brushed a hand back through her thin hair while wishing she could do something extravagant with it. The girl tried often not to think of the past or the things that she would never accomplish because of the way the world went, but every now and again she found herself thinking of graduations and prom and college parties. Occasions when girls would get their hair done beautifully with nails to match their outfits and pretty make-up. Shoes and purses and jewelry. Of course, she'd never been one for all the 'girly' things, that had been Maggie, but she still found herself thinking about them on occasion.

The difference between thinking of them now and when she'd thought of the things missing from life in the past was that now she didn't get weepy. Beth simply didn't allow the thoughts of what she might have missed out on to get her down. After all, she had so much to be thankful for without dreaming of what if's. She had Daryl, she had her family, she had the boys, she had a life. Things could have been a lot different from the start of all this and she simply had to remind herself every now and again that things were good, considering.

The sound of Rick's thoughtful sigh brought Beth back to the present. She tried to imagine what he could have been thinking about and only two things came to mind. How much longer would the group be gone. Or Michonne. A grin began to pull on the corners of her mouth as she looked over at him, "so... you and Michonne, huh?" She asked almost innocently.

He sighed quietly and shook his head, "Carl tell you?"

"He might have mentioned it at dinner a couple of weeks back." At the blush that formed on his cheeks Beth found herself fighting not to laugh aloud. "Don't worry, he was pretty discreet about it."

"Yeah, but I imagine that everyone knows anyway."

"Maybe not _everyone_ but a good majority of people. If I didn't know you and her, I probably wouldn't have thought it likely. You two have always had a connection, though." She stated, the comment causing him to nod in agreement. Anyone who had known the two back at the prison would have agreed. There was certainly a spark between their leader and their warrior. "It's good to see you happy, Rick."

He looked up at her now with a tiny smile lingering on his lips. "Thanks."

–

Sammi had stopped by around dinner time with Jon so that she could check in on the babies. She'd told Beth that she missed being able to do the standard tests to make sure everyone was healthy, though she would settle for the knowledge that both babies sounded and looked just fine. Rick had chosen to stay with her for the day to keep her company until Maggie and Glenn had returned from work, so with the house full of others Beth didn't feel quite as alone now. Of course, she knew that Rick hadn't only stayed to keep her company, it was to give himself some as well. Other than Judith his apartment would be empty until Michonne and Carl returned with Daryl and the longer the day wore on, the more both of them began to worry.

The group should have returned, unless they encountered some sort of trouble. Naturally, both of them tried their best not to think of the trouble that they could have run across. Instead they focused on conversing with one another about things they missed or stories from when Carl had been young. They talked of various things that they wished they could see again or were worried to live without.

Sammi coming by had been a bit of a blessing as it gave the both of them a bit more distraction. Rick began a conversation with Jon almost instantly as Sammi leaned over the crib to look in on the sleeping babies. She did her best not to wake them since their mother had only gotten them to sleep an hour or so before. Beth leaned back in Glenn's chair as she listened to the male's conversation.

"That group you were with..?" Rick began, slightly hesitant. Jon nodded to show he was listening. "Why'd you leave them? I heard someone talking about it before, just haven't had the chance to talk to you or your friends about it."

Jon frowned and rubbed at the back of his neck in slight nervousness. "We overheard them talking about these people we were going to start tracking. One of their group had killed one of ours and the guy everyone sort of looked at as the leader started talking about these crazy things he wanted to do to them." His frown deepened as he recalled it. "Our guy turned by the time we went to check on him, damn near bit someone."

Rick nodded softly with a slightly far off look in his eyes. Beth's brows furrowed as she watched him, recalling when he and Carl had first gotten to Terminus and the story they'd told about being on the run from a group of men. Honestly, until now, she had never put the two together. As her gaze shifted toward Jon she realized that Jon may have been a part of the group Rick had been running from.

"Do you remember where that was?" Rick asked now.

Jon's lips turned down as he forced the memory to the front of his mind. "Not really, I mean, it was nothing more than some little town, in some tiny little cul de sac." A hand raised to scratch at his cheek before shrugging his shoulders up quickly. "I just remember Tony saying he'd seen someone under the bed, but he and Len had been fighting over who was going to sleep in it and Len had knocked him out. By the time he'd come to the guy he'd seen was already gone and Lou was dead."

Beth spotted Rick's Adam's apple bob when he swallowed hard, obviously the speech from Jon had confirmed a fear. "And you split with them after that?"

Jon nodded slightly, "about a week or so, yeah. I guess one of the guys had caught sight of the guy who'd killed Lou, he'd been with a woman and a kid and they started talking all these crazy things they were gonna do and.. me and my guys aren't like that. So we high tailed it out." His brows furrowed after a moment as he focused more solely onto Rick's face. "You sure ask a lot of questions." His statement, of course, questioning why.

Rick raised a hand to scratch at the back of his head, "I was a cop before all this." He stated, trying to deflect the attention.

"Yeah, so was I. What's with all the questions? You know something I don't?"

Rick finally frowned while drawing in a breath. His pale eyes danced toward Beth for a moment, spotting her watching them. It wasn't difficult to tell that the girl had already pieced it all together. She'd spent a bit of time with Jon since he'd come to Terminus; the man seemed permanently attached to Sammi's side–when Conrad didn't have him working the wall, that is. The young mother nodded softly to indicate that Rick should continue and he shifted his gaze back toward Jon.

"See, I was holed up in a house a while back, trying to recover. My boy was out scavenging the town with a friend.. a female friend. I heard voices in the house that weren't theirs and I hid because I was too weak to do much more than that. Two guys started fighting over the bed, one choked the other out and I made my way out to escape. Ran into a guy in the bathroom and the guy looked like he was going to try and do some damage.

"I didn't mean to kill him, not really. I just wanted to get out and warn my boy before he got inside, you know? Not long after that group started tracking us." Rick watched Jon for the male's reaction.

Jon frowned and sighed softly, shaking his head. "Look, I'm real sorry they started chasing you guys down. Just know that me and my boys weren't part of that. We didn't want to be."

"When I heard the little bit I did about you, I just needed to be sure you weren't going to be a danger to me and my son."

Jon shook his head again, "I can assure you we won't be. Like I said, we got away from them as soon as we found out what they were really like. We just want to live, not fight every other living person just to get what we want."

Rick nodded, a gentle smile tugging his lips. He extended his hand toward the other man, "I can't remember if we did this or not, but I'm Rick."

Jon smiled a little in return while shaking his hand. "Jon." When his hand was back in his lap a brow rose, "so are we okay?"

Beth knew how difficult of a choice this was for Rick. He had a hard time letting people get too close, especially now that a lot of the people he had been close with had betrayed him. Harshly, at that. So many more were gone, now. She was glad to see that he nodded to the question and couldn't stop the soft smile that tugged her lips in response. While there was still a hint of worry that Jon's old group could happen upon Terminus and attempt to do some damage to Rick, Carl and Michonne, Beth was glad to know that there were enough people here that would defend them.

She only looked away from the two men when she heard the soft cry of one of the infants in the next room as Sammi stood over the crib looking down at them. With a silent sigh, the girl rose from the chair and slipped out of the room to check on her children.

**–**

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	50. Survival Instinct

**Disclaimer: Do not own ****_The Walking Dead_**** or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language, racial slur**

**Authors Note: I apologize that it's been... almost four month since my last update. Between working, fighting with my computer (since the hard drive is being a complete jerk) and dealing with some personal issues I just have not had a single bit of time for writing. I'm working on getting this chapter and a couple of others done because I am no where near done with this story, there has just been a lot of distraction to keep me from writing. Hopefully I still have readers out there!**

–

"So, are you sad that there's no more chocolate?" Carl asked Michonne as he leaned his head into his palm. One hand held onto the fishing pole while the two talked quietly. The young male was more focused on fishing and chatting while Michonne seemed a little more content to search the trees for where Daryl could be. Their boat was a little further out to the little lake than she would have liked it to be, making it more difficult to see as much as she would have liked.

She clutched the fishing pole between her hands, her dark eyes focused on the trees, watching for any signs of Daryl. So far, she and Carl had caught a little over half a dozen fish and by her watch the two had been sitting in the boat for close to two hours, still with no sign from Daryl. Needless to say she was a little worried, though she felt that she had a right to be. If the world were a different place Michonne wouldn't have cared, she would simply have assumed he'd just had a spot of trouble with a snare, but in this world there were horrors that one couldn't begin to imagine.

She jumped slightly when Carl's cool hand brushed across her forearm, nearly dropping the fishing pole in the process. The boy nodded in understanding, knowing that she was a little lost in her worry. He was simply doing the best that he could to distract her. "I'm sorry, Carl.. what did you say?" She asked, now.

"I said: are you sad that there's no more chocolate?"

A smile finally cracked across the woman's full lips, "to be fair, all the chocolate is not gone. I'm sure there's still pudding or syrup out there somewhere. Besides, there's still cocoa beans, if we got ambitious enough we could probably make some."

His nose wrinkled in reply, "that sounds like a lot of work."

Michonne laughed quietly and shrugged her shoulders up quickly. It probably would be a lot of work to do but if they truly wanted chocolate they would do what was needed to make it. Her gaze turned toward the trees yet again, losing herself in thought as she waited for the next pull on her line.

–

The trees were quiet, much more so than they had been in most other wooded areas he'd walked through over the last two and a half years. He kept expecting to hear the moan and groan of a walker somewhere or a bird chirping.. or God only knew what. Instead, he was continuously greeted by nothing but the sound of insects buzzing. Daryl had taken out a couple of rabbits, a squirrel and an opossum. The last wasn't his favorite, though it would do in a pinch. Sometimes food was scarce and you had to eat what you could get your hands on.

Every now and again he would look to his watch to check how much time had passed, hoping that they would be able to get back on the road soon so that they could get back home. He had barely been gone twelve hours and was already antsy to see Beth and the boys. The last twelve hours had been difficult, especially when his mind drifted to them. Twice now he'd caught himself day dreaming while wandering the woods. Both times he'd missed out on catching bigger game.

He had to continuously force his mind to stay focused on the task at hand, collecting food for his fiancee and boys, collecting dinner for the community. A few yards ahead Daryl heard a scamper in the bushes and smirked, pulling the crossbow higher to take aim. The smile fell, however, as he stepped closer. Daryl had expected to see or hear something small in the bushes, instead he heard something familiar, something that sent a small shudder through his spine.

The rasp of a walker. It sounded weak, but it was still there. Enough to make his eyes dart around the space to be sure there weren't others. Seeing nothing, he stepped a little closer, ignoring the crunch of dead leaves under his boots. Visibly there were no walkers, which caused his brows to furrow in confusion. Several yards away, though, he spotted a body, partially covered in leaves. It lay motionless, but still the rasping persisted.

It was as he stood staring toward the mass that Daryl got the idea. Using his boot, he nudged the branches on the bush until he heard the growling from beneath. Careful so as not to put his hands in close contact, he parted the dry branches and saw the head of a walker. Nothing more, just the head. It's jaws still worked as it's glazed eyes focused toward him.

So far as Daryl knew the head didn't live _that_ long without the body, which meant this walker was killed fairly recently. His head canted slightly to the side as he stared at the head for a moment, the graying skin that seemed to sag everywhere, the disgusting eyes, the way it's muscles and nerves showed through in various spaces. If this thing was killed fairly recently that meant there were other people in the woods. Though, he hadn't seen any.

As silently as he possibly could, Daryl eased himself onto his feet and looked around. There was nothing, no one. It was near deadly silent, save for the soft sounds of insects in the trees and the occasional chirp of a bird in the distance. He moved silently toward the corpse on the ground, not needing to look to know for sure that it belonged to the head in the bushes. Besides, he wasn't searching for that. Within moments he found what he'd been looking for, too.

Tracks lead away from the body a little deeper into the trees, though at the same time it was also in direction of the lake. "One, two, three, four.. gees, gotta be at least six people.." he murmured. Normally, this probably would have been a cause for celebration; the idea of running across someone else, another human being in the world who could join with them, take up arms and help to fight the monsters away so that there was a fighting chance of taking back their world. Unfortunately, this wasn't a normal circumstance.

He'd told Beth once before that the good people didn't usually survive this world. The world they inhabited was filled with a lot more depraved individuals than those who were truly, wholly good and right now there was a lot at stake. They had a van full of food and supplies.. and two people who were sitting ducks in a row boat somewhere on the lake. His heart rate spiked as his gaze followed the shift in the tracks from heading just deeper into the woods to walking toward the cool water.

Shouldering the crossbow, Daryl turned on heel and rushed back in the direction he'd come. The run through the woods back to the car was uneventful. Nothing crossed his path that he wouldn't have expected to be there. After tossing the animal carcasses onto the hood of the van he rushed toward the dock, spotting Michonne and Carl sitting quietly in the middle of the lake.

He waved his hands above his head to get their attention, though neither seemed to be responding.

–

It was only natural for her to worry a little about where Daryl had gone. For one, she was fairly certain he still had the keys to the van and if something happened out there she didn't want to try and hotwire it. Not only that, she didn't want to have to explain to Beth how she'd let Daryl wander off alone... and then left without confirmation of his death. She was certain that the blonde would never forgive her for it.

Carl had long since given up trying to get her to communicate beyond the occasional grunt as her eyes focused on the trees for some sign of their bowman. The only time she focused on life in the little boat was when she felt the tug on her line. After reeling it in, she would cast it once more and lose herself between thoughts of Rick and what could be keeping Daryl.

Her dark brows knitted together as she saw a brief flash of white in the trees. For only a moment she thought it was Daryl, but then it moved and she realized it was someone's hair. She focused her attention on it until she spotted more movement, the silhouette's marred by the darkness under the trees canopies. In all, she counted six, though there could have been others. They're perfect strides and more graceful movements had been enough to tell her that it wasn't a small herd of walkers.

"Carl.. reel in your line." She said softly enough so that her voice wouldn't carry. Of course, she knew that it was illogical for it to carry as far as the men but there was always a hint of worry. Michonne knew as well as anyone what this world had become, she knew what sort of people lived within it and she didn't trust many. It had taken a long time for her to feel comfortable within Terminus, it had taken a long time for her to feel secure with the Prison group. She didn't trust easily and it was because she relied on her gut instinct. If something didn't feel right, it usually wasn't.

The boy flashed her a look of confusion, though did as she asked while shifting his gaze in the same direction she was staring. "Where's Daryl?" He asked in the same hushed tone.

"I don't know.." she replied while pulling her fishing pole back into the boat. Her gaze skipped around the shore-line until it hit the dock, where Daryl stood waving his hands over his head. "There!" She whispered while reaching out for the oars. Without waiting for Carl to have his line, MIchonne began paddling toward the dock.

–

As soon as Michonne turned his way he began waving them toward him. Daryl wasn't sure where the people in the woods were, but he knew they had to be somewhere. Their tracks had pointed him toward the lake and with any luck they would be able to leave before actually running into them. If it weren't for the supplies, he might not have been so worried.

Daryl felt himself counting the passing time as the boat made it's slow travel across the water until the two were within speaking distance. "We need to go." Michonne spoke before he had the chance.

"D'you see 'em?" He asked while reaching out to help the woman. Carl gathered up the fish he'd tied together with line as he quickly scrambled out of the boat, nodding at the elder male.

"Yeah, spotted a couple guys walking through the woods, couldn't have been too far from here." He stated while walking quickly toward the van. As quietly as the boy could, he lifted the back hatch and dropped the fish into the cooler. He then caught the smaller critter's Michonne tossed him that Daryl had killed in the woods and added them to the cooler.

"Get in." Daryl commanded.

Carl closed the hatch a little louder than he'd meant to, wincing in response as he rushed around toward the side door. Michonne followed suit by climbing into the front seat. Daryl, on the other hand, didn't make it as far as the others. His fingers had just brushed across the door handle when he spotted Michonne's eyes widen at something behind him at the same time a snapping twig announced the arrival of someone else.

"Now, now. Take a step back, boy." He heard the voice behind him. It was low and throaty and caused his brows to furrow slightly. "Looks like you got enough to share. Why not give a couple'a road weary travelers somethin' to eat?" Daryl shifted his gaze from Michonne's face to the reflection on the window of the gathering group behind him. Seven men flanked one. Tall, broad, gray-white hair.

Michonne must have seen the shock that colored Daryl's face as he stared, eyes widening at the same time his breathing hitched, because her brows furrowed, carefully motioning for him to hurry up and get in. But he couldn't. He felt completely and utterly rooted to the spot.

"Come now, boy." The voice, now ringing in familiarity, beckoned. Daryl's hands closed into fists as he swallowed hard to force the lump away from his throat. Slowly, he turned his back on the car and faced the group of men. All were varying in heights and muscle mass, though most were about Daryl's size; all varied in appearance, though the consistent being that all of them were white.

The one who had spoken, the one with the gray-white hair, was obviously their leader and as soon as Daryl turned the man's eyes widened marginally. "Well, I'll be." The male began to laugh quietly, his chuckle sending a shiver through Daryl.

"What is it, Joe?" One of the men asked, a scrawny guy with dark hair and beard. The man had beady eyes that instantly made Daryl wary. Of course, the name that the man used was enough to cause his brows to knit tightly together.

_'Joe?'_ He thought to himself. That wasn't the name that he remembered. He wasn't sure why he felt like a cowering child instead of the strong and very independent man that he was.

"Well, Len.. this here's my boy.." Joe answered.

"Your..?" The group stared with a mixture of shock and disgust from Daryl to their leader, "your son? Thought they was both dead?" The one named Len stated, looking over Daryl as if he were nothing more than a bothersome insect.

"I thought so, too." His pale eyes searched Daryl's face with more scrutiny than he remembered being there. "Where's your brother?"

The words caused Daryl to shiver, both due to the memory of having killed his walker-brother and the memory of the words themselves.

"Where's your brother?" The large male asked as he stared down at his six year old son. Daryl shivered in worry at the harsh look on his father's face. His mouth opened but words managed to fail him. "You'd do well to answer me, boy." William said lowly, his tone dangerous.

Daryl could tell that his father had been drinking again, the knowledge only made him worry for his safety considering he had no idea where his brother was. The young boy shuddered and shook his head gently. He couldn't force his voice to cooperate and speak the words that he didn't know. It seemed as though no matter which answer he gave, he was still in line to get whooped. If he had known and told where Merle had gone his father would have beaten him for not opening his mouth sooner. If he voiced that he had no idea his father would have beaten him for.. well, probably for the fun of it. Or most likely just because Merle wasn't there to take it.

"Answer me, boy!" William roared, causing Daryl to jump.

"I.." he began while shaking his head, blue orbs quickly darting around in the hopes of finding some exit route. There was nothing, no way to escape the rage he could see beginning to boil behind his fathers eyes.

William's mouth had barely opened to scream something more when Daryl heard a voice that caused relief and worry to wash through him all at once. "Leave 'im alone." He glanced around his father to see Merle standing in the doorway. The elder boy offered a quick smile to his brother before looking back to their father. Not always was Merle there to save him and take the beatings his father seemed to love dishing out, but it was always such a relief when he was.

Only seconds had passed since the man had asked the question,just enough time for Daryl to remember his father in the worst possible way–as if there were another way to remember him–before he remembered that he wasn't that scared little boy anymore. He'd been doing things on his own for a long time now. He'd been working his behind off to protect people, to be a better man than his father had ever been. He was a father, a husband, a friend and a productive member of the community he lived in. Daryl knew that there was no need, nor reason, to feel like a child under the hard gaze of his father.

"Dead." He said the single word without looking away from 'Joe'.

"Dead, huh?" His father asked in return with a quick chuckle and shake of his head. "I always would'a figured you'd be the first to go."

Daryl felt his lip quiver in annoyance, having to bite his tongue to hold back the witty remark that had threatened to escape. If his father was still the same man he'd been all those years ago, and there was no doubt in Daryl's mind that he was, then he had to worry about the sort of company his father kept. In this world there wasn't much that was good and his father was one of the worst sort of people around. Which meant that, at least according to Daryl, the men allied with William couldn't be much good either.

"'Joe', huh? Since when'd you by that?" Daryl asked now, inching his way back toward the door while keeping his grip tight around the crossbow in case he needed to use it.

Joe smirked at his son while leaning a little to the right so that he could see into the van around Daryl. "Since when'd you start keepin' comp'ny with niggers?" Leave it to William Dixon to worry about race in a time like this. No one else in the history of the apocalypse would worry about something as trivial as race, especially when it didn't matter–as if it ever had. "Len.. that girl look familiar to you?"

Len's head tilted to the side as he stared at Michonne before his beady little eyes danced toward Carl in the backseat. "Mm, not as familiar as the boy." Daryl didn't have to look to know that they were seeing the connection between Carl and his father, Rick.

Once more 'Joe' shifted enough to look around Daryl so that he could see Carl's face. A wicked sort of smile began to play over his lips, "I wanna talk to the boy. He might be able to answer somethin' for us."

"No." That was the only answer that Daryl could allow to come out. He'd promised Rick to make sure Carl made it back safe and sound and he wasn't entirely sure he could keep that promise if Carl got out of the van.

"Now, now. No need to get all defensive, son. We just want to talk to him."

"I ain't yer son an' the answer's still no." Instinctively, Daryl's grip tightened on the crossbow at the same time his dark blue eyes danced around to take in each of the men to gauge their movements. Several began cracking their knuckles and shifting as if to jump at a signal.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but either way I'm still talkin' to the kid."

Daryl let his eyes dart once more around at the men, noting that a majority of them were looking toward 'Joe's' hand. His gaze dropped quickly toward the digits to see one finger held out and a second dropping, as if on a count-down. "You ain't gettin' near 'im." He snapped just before he raised the crossbow. Without taking a firm aim, he fired and turned on heel. Michonne had obviously known something was coming from listening to the talk outside and the moment that Daryl had raised the crossbow she'd leaned across the seat and shoved his door open.

He dove quickly into the van, dropping the crossbow onto the floor beside him before ripping the keys from his vest pocket and shoving them into the ignition. Before he could get the car started the large group of men had recovered from the shot he'd taken at them, which had left one of their men groaning on the ground with an arrow through his shoulder. Several of the men had loaded crossbows of their own, several more had pulled guns out. When the first shot rang out he both felt and heard Carl drop to the floor in the backseat at the same time Michonne dipped her head low to protect herself.

It seemed that no amount of diving and hiding would be enough to protect everyone, though. Daryl turned the key in the ignition to get it started, then slammed his foot onto the gas. Their van rocketed down the dirt path with shots from both bolts and bullets rocketing off the side of the van, one even shattered the back window.

Daryl swallowed hard, fighting for a good breath of air as Michonne sat back up. Her dark eyes darted over Daryl to be sure he was alright.. unfortunately he wasn't. An arrow was stuck in his left side and a bullet had gone through his left arm, which was now cradled against his chest. She groaned before turning toward the back where Carl gripped his stomach with one hand and his head with the other. "Carl?" She asked before climbing over her seat and dropping onto the floor beside the boy as Daryl took the turn back onto the main road.

"He okay?" Daryl asked, wincing as he looked down at the arrow sticking out of his side.

"I'm fine." Carl groaned through his teeth as he pushed himself to sit up. Blood leaked from behind the hand held tightly to his right ear and escaped between the fingers of the hand gripping his stomach.

"Oh my god." Michonne murmured as she pulled his hand away from his ear. Blood steadily dripped from the wound that looked as though it had taken away a large chunk of his ear, but had otherwise left his head undamaged. Next her fingers pried his away from his stomach before yanking his shirt up and out of the way.

"Is he okay?" Daryl repeated, a little louder this time.

"He's been shot." Michonne replied as she moved Carl enough to try and find an exit wound. It was too dangerous if there weren't one and she knew he'd been shot once before. She simply had to pray that this time he wouldn't be at death's door. As her hand touched his back she found it damp with blood from the bullet's exit.

"I'm fine!" Carl repeated, sounding irritated that he'd had to say it again. "It went clean through, I'm fine." He stared at Michonne as if to ascertain whether or not she were injured but the woman appeared to be completely fine. Next his gaze snapped toward the front as he heard the sharp inhale from Daryl as the man sucked in a breath through his teeth. "You okay, man?" He asked while leaning toward the left. He could clearly see the arrow bouncing with every bump they hit in the road and didn't need the confirmation that it was stuck in the older male's side or leg.

"Mhm." He hummed with a nod, ignoring the pain the shot through his side and forearm. "They followin' us?" He asked Michonne while keeping his right hand on the wheel to steer them home to Terminus.

The woman leaned up enough to look through the gaping hole that was the back window to see the same rotting cars and garbage that had been there before. Nothing moved except the trees in the breeze or the paper that they'd rustled up when they had driven past. "Not that I can see." She settled onto the floor beside Carl while looking toward Daryl. All of them knew that there was still a long drive ahead and Michonne wondered if the older male could make the drive on his own with the damage he'd taken. She was thankful that what damage the men had taken, while she'd gotten none, wasn't severe. "You good to drive?" She asked after a few minutes. Daryl nodded and grunted in response as he kept his eyes focused on the road.

**–**

**Reviews? I know there was a racial slur in here, I want to assure everyone that I am not a racist, simply the character that was speaking at the moment is. Hopefully no offense was taken by anyone.**


	51. Around Every Corner

**Disclaimer: Do not own ****_The Walking Dead_**** or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: I know that it's been some time since I've updated and I really truly do apologize for that. I've been working 12 hour days, 7 days a week. So between work and trying to have a bit of family time, plus still dealing with a bit of my own personal stuff, it's been difficult to even get to the computer. I am working on the next update as well, and I sincerely apologize again for it having been so long. Hopefully there's still some readers out there. Enjoy!**

–

Everything seemed so quiet. Maggie and Glenn were working still, Jon and Sammi had gone hours ago and Rick was settled on the couch with Judith, watching the little girl play with a wooden horse they had found on their last run. The twins were sleeping and Beth frowned as dusk set in, casting an eerie glow in the house. Daryl should have been back by now, right? Maybe. Unless they ran into some sort of trouble.

Beth took in a slow breath as she paced the living room in thought, her arms crossed over her chest. With as silent as it had been in the house, save for Judith thunking the horse against the floor every now and again, Beth hadn't expected Rick's deep voice to ring through the room and when it did she jumped. "Why don't you go for a walk? Being cooped up in the house isn't helping you."

Stopping herself from continued pacing Beth moved to lean against the couch, looking down at him and shaking her head in response. "I can't..."

"You can." Rick interrupted. He knew that she was worried about the twins and how long it would take to pack them up to go for a small walk, but he hadn't been insinuating that she take them along. "Just go. I'll keep an eye on the boys, take a break. Go walk around the wall, talk to Sammi or Lizzie or something. Just get out of the house for a little bit."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." His voice held a hint of laughter, "just go."

Beth considered it for several moments longer, then a soft sigh escaped her lips as she nodded. "Alright.. thank you, Rick." She reached out and patted his shoulder before making her way to the door. After stepping outside into the fading sunshine the woman took in a deep breath in the hopes of calming her nerves. Her pale eyes closed as she tilted her face toward the sky, capturing some of those last rays of sun. When she opened her eyes again and they had adjusted she spotted a semi-familiar face walking down the sidewalk as if to pass their house. "Hello, Anna." She smiled gently while climbing off the porch.

"Beth, how are you?" The young girl asked as the green eyes darted over the elder blonde's face.

Beth found herself shrugging slightly as she walked down the path away from the house. "Alright, I suppose. You?"

Anna shrugged her shoulders up as well, "making it through the day. Spent most of mine working in the fields and trying not to worry about Carl."

"You two are getting really close, huh?" She asked with an arch forming in her brow.

"Mm." Anna nodded in agreement while glancing away. Beth could easily spot the blush that had formed on her cheeks, though pretended not to have noticed it. "Do.. do you know when they're supposed to be back?"

Beth sighed softly and shook her head as she finally stepped up beside the girl. She motioned with one hand for the two of them to keep walking, needing to get herself moving. "Not really. They could have run into car trouble, Daryl's pretty good at fixing them up so it shouldn't take too long if that's the case. Or they could have run into some other trouble and need to camp out for the night. It happens. We'll know something sooner or later." She promised, hoping to sate Anna's concern as well as her own. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to do much of anything for either girl.

"So, what are you doing out here?" Anna asked, glancing back toward the house. The younger woman knew Beth well enough from their various walks and meetings through town. Beth often took the twins for a walk around Terminus to get herself out of the house and allow them some fresh air and sunshine. She often ran into Anna with Carl and the two found themselves talking when the male wasn't around. Of the new arrivals Anna was closest to Beth in age and it was a little easier for the two to connect.

Beth chuckled as she glanced back to the house, "I think I'm driving Rick crazy with my pacing. He's watching all the kids so I can have a little bit of time out, hopefully to distract myself."

"That's kind of what I'm doing," Anna commented while she walked alongside the other girl. "I've already walked through town five different times today." Her hand rose to brush back through her pale hair. "Doesn't seem to be enough going on to distract, though."

Beth nodded her head in agreement as her eyes fell onto the wall, watching Conrad slowly make his way around. She spotted Gavin in the distance and Rosie's bright red hair a little further along. "So where did your group live before Terminus?" She asked in the hopes of distracting the both of them.

Anna laughed quietly and shook her head, "nowhere, really. I mean, me and my sister were from Florida. After everything fell apart and the dead started coming back we just.. we never really lived anywhere. We sort of just grouped up with people and kept on the move. No place ever really seemed safe before." The girl shifted her gaze to the wall as if to clarify the 'safe' part. "Did you guys really live in a prison?" She asked when her attention turned back onto Beth, more excitement in her tone than probably should have been necessary.

"We did. There were a lot more of us then." She replied, her mind drifting to those that had been lost since the farm. Beth took in a slow breath as she looked to the ground, watching their shadows stretch ahead of them. She'd just opened her mouth to say more when a shout on the wall drew her attention away from Anna.

"Open it!" Conrad was shouting to Gavin and another guard that Beth couldn't make out right away. Both began pulling at the rope that would hoist the trap door to allow someone to enter by vehicle from the other side of the wall. Beth felt her heart skip a beat with the worry that it wouldn't be Daryl and the anticipation that it was. Without taking a moment to hesitate the young blonde took off at a run toward the wall with Anna on her heels.

When she skidded to a stop less than thirty seconds later it was to see the van that Daryl had left in early that morning, but that wasn't what caused the girl to stop so abruptly. What had caused her to stop short was the bullet holes in the driver's side doors. "Daryl!?" Her voice was more shrill than she realized as she attempted to push through the gathering crowd.

–

It felt as though he'd been driving for hours on end with no break in between. It wouldn't have been so bad if his ass didn't hurt from sitting in the same position for the last three hours, but if he'd moved it would have dug the arrow in his stomach a little deeper which caused more pain than he was willing to deal with. He'd contemplated pulling it out, but wasn't sure if it were wedged against something vital and figured it would be safer to have Sammi or one of the other docs pull it out after making sure Carl was alright.

The kid continued to proclaim that he was completely and utterly fine, that there was little to no pain and that he wasn't worried about himself, but worried more about Daryl after the shock of having run into his father. Daryl was doing the best he could not to think about his old man, or the fact that he was going to have to explain to Rick that it was his father who had been tracking them down for months.

Michonne seemed to be fine, merely worried about both the men, more so Daryl due to his silence. She was certain that once his mind had settled a little more and he'd had a bit more time to think about it all, he would be willing to let them in. At least, she hoped he would. Sometimes it was hard to tell with Daryl since he kept most things bottled in.

As the van bounced over the high grass beside the wall Daryl fought to keep the pained sounds to himself as the jostling dug at the arrow in his side. Less than two minutes later and they had pulled the car through the small underground tunnel and emerged into the light inside the city. Before Daryl had even cut the engine people were beginning to gather to see who had arrived and what had been brought with them.

He breathed deeply as he struggled to get the energy to climb back out of the van, to stretch his limbs back out as all of them were completely sore from sitting still for so long. Michonne had already pulled the back door open and was climbing out when Conrad dropped down the ladder and rushed toward them. "Get Sammi." Daryl heard the samurai tell their Captain in a low voice. He assumed it was to keep others from hearing and panicking. They certainly didn't need that.

Conrad glanced toward the bloodied Carl and then to Daryl who forced a smile before nodding and signaling for someone to come closer. Seconds later he saw Rosie's bright red hair bob into view, then vanish again with the orders from Conrad.

"You weren't kidding about that place being loaded, Dixon." Conrad said as he leaned into the backseat, "you doin' okay, kid?" He asked, having seen the blood soaking Carl's shirt.

The youngest male nodded quickly, putting on that brave face that Daryl knew was nothing more than a front. He'd seen it far more times than he could count in the time he had known the boy and was glad to know that Carl had toughened up to the world around him without becoming hard and cruel. It was a relief to see when it was so simple for someone to fall into darkness. "I'm fine. Where's my dad?"

"Last I knew he was sittin' at Beth's with her and the kids." Conrad's pale brows furrowed as he shifted to stand back to his full height so that he could look over the top of the van. He'd heard the shrill cry of the all too familiar blonde. "Speak of the devil," he murmured as Beth pushed herself through the crowd and to the drivers door.

Daryl glanced over just as the girl reached for the handle and adjusted his hand low enough in the hopes of covering, at the very least, the majority of the blood so that the people standing around the van wouldn't see. They didn't need people in hysterics. Nevertheless, Beth gasped at the sight of the arrow before her gaze snapped upward to meet with his. Her natural instinct was to pull the unsightly thing from his body but her training with Sammi had told her that they needed to be certain it hadn't caused any internal damage first.

"What happened?" She asked in a whisper that she wished could have been lower.

"Ran into a bit'a trouble." He told her with a forced laugh on his lips.

Beth quickly looked toward the back where Michonne still sat with Carl, her eyes widening at the blood that had soaked through her friends shirt. "Bows _and_ guns? Who'd you run into?" She asked quietly, not really expecting an answer from them.

"Can you get my dad?" She heard from the back, frowning as she tried to think of how to get Rick out here without having to drag all three children along. Her eyes scanned the crowd quickly, darting from face to face before landing on a familiar one.

"Sasha," she called while waving the older woman over. Sasha's dark brows furrowed as she pushed her way through the small crowd to get closer. "Would you be willing to sit at my house with Judith and the twins?"

Sasha's expression turned toward confusion before her gaze danced to the vans interior and landed on the bloodied men. With a sharp nod of her head she turned on heel and ran toward Beth's just as Sammi pushed through the group. "What's happened?" The doctor asked as she stepped up toward Beth, setting her bag onto the hood.

"Oh, nothing, we were just playing around and managed to shoot each other." Carl muttered from the backseat. Of course, his low tone easily carried through the air.

Sammi frowned darkly toward the boy before nudging Beth aside to assess the damage to Daryl's side. The fingers of one hand gently pressed against the edges of the wound while the other held onto his wrist to check his blood pressure. She flashed a brief glance toward Beth, "go get his vitals," and nodded back toward Carl. "It's not in that deep, looks like it lodged just under the skin. How's the arm?" She asked while pointing to the wound on his forearm.

Daryl shrugged lightly as her hands went to the wound, checking the amount of damage. Before the doctor could speak again Beth's voice rang from the back, "bullet wound to the lower right side, exit in the back. Looks like most of the bleeding has stopped, though it could do with some cleaning. Large chunk of cartilage and flesh missing from the left ear, moderate blood loss. BP 120-palp, heart rate 102."

"How do you feel, Carl?" Sammi asked without looking toward the boy. Naturally, she would go back over Beth's work to be sure that nothing had been missed, but she trusted the blonde enough for the moment.

Carl sighed, as if in irritation, while looking out the window for his father, "fine. I said before it went right through"

"Still needs looked at." She reached for her bag on the hood and dug through it for only a moment before pulling out a roll of gauze and some salve. After applying some to Daryl's arm, she rolled the gauze around it. "Keep this clean for a couple of days, we'll look at it again later. Any more pain in it, come get me right away." The doctor advised, then turned her attention back to the arrow in his side. "Sorry, I don't have anything to kill the pain here.."

Daryl let out a gentle sigh, steeling himself for the pain that was sure to come when the doctor pulled that arrow from his side. His fingers gripped onto the steering wheel as he forced his body to relax, knowing that it would come out simpler and cleaner if he weren't tensed. It certainly wouldn't be the first time he'd had to have an arrow yanked from him. "Jus' do it." He told her.

His eyes fell closed as he tried to think about something else and no sooner had his mind begun to drift away he felt the faint tearing in his skin that caused him to groan as he white knuckled the steering wheel. Beth leaned up and placed one hand on his shoulder, the other was resting on Carl's knee. "How are you doing back there, Carl?" Sammi asked again as she quickly threaded a needle to sew up Daryl's wound.

"Still fine." Truthfully, Carl almost sounded bored. Just as the doctor began stitching into Daryl's skin, Rick rushed into view and nearly barreled over Beth to get to his son. He barely paid attention to Michonne, or anyone else for that matter. "Hey, dad." A smile traced the boy's lips as he looked up at his father, who stared back in worry.

Rick glanced toward Sammi, then to Beth after having seen the blood on his sons shirt and face. "Why isn't someone doing something?" He asked fretfully.

"Because as far as we can tell your son is just fine, Rick." Sammi assured without taking her eyes away from the task at hand. At first Daryl had twitched and even flinched a little as she'd stitched the wound, but the further along she went the more numb to the pain it became until he did little more than wince slightly as the needle jabbed into his side.

Daryl looked to his friend with a small frown tugging at his thin lips. He knew better than anyone just how much Rick worried over his son, he'd seen the emotional wreck that his friend had become when Carl had been shot that first time before they'd gotten to the farm. Rick Grimes had been shot three times in his life, only one of which had been life-threatening, and all of those had told him that any shot could be fatal if not taken care of quickly enough. In the end, he had to trust their doctor's judgment above all in that Daryl's injury was much more severe than Carl's.

"It's fine, dad." Carl reassured his father with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Rick sent a small glare in his sons direction that quickly evaporated with a sigh before turning his attention toward Daryl. "What happened?"

It was the youngest who answered, sounding just as bored as he had before, "how many times are we going to hear that question?"

"Until we get a straight answer," was Beth's reply.

Michonne frowned softly as her dark eyes danced toward the crowd that had gathered then shifted back to Rick, their eyes held for a moment before she shook her head. "Maybe we should have this conversation without so many people listening in." Her voice was soft enough not to carry past those directly around the van. After a sigh of resignation Rick nodded in agreement.

"Conrad should prob'ly be there.." Daryl murmured with a half glance toward Michonne. As their captain and protector of the city, the man had more right than just about anyone else to be there.

The Captain, having stood close by enough to hear the whole conversation took a deep breath before looking around at the gathered crowd, "Rosie, Gavin gather up a couple others and start clearin' out this van.. take stock of what we got here. Everyone else," he called to get their attention, "show's over, you'll know something soon enough, get back to work."

The crowd slowly began to disperse as Sammi moved her attention from Daryl's wounds to Carl's. As far as she could see, Beth had been right. There was no real, extensive damage to the boy. "You were lucky," she murmured while looking at the bullet's entry and exit holes to gauge and be sure that it wouldn't have hit anything vital. When she was certain that the boy would live her gaze raised to his ear, frowning darkly as she looked it over. "I'm afraid there's nothing to be done about that.. you'll be lopsided."

Despite the circumstances Carl couldn't help the small grin that began to twitch at the corners of his lips. The fact that the doctor could find a little humor in the situation was entertaining to him. His gaze raised to his father's, noting the hard line around the man's mouth, and felt his own tighten. By the time Sammi had cleared Carl the majority of the crowd had gone which left Daryl, Beth, Michonne, Rick, Conrad, Sammi, Carl and Conrad. Daryl had stood and had one arm draped around his wife's shoulder, the other rested against the side of the van as he worked feeling back into his toes. Rick and Sammi helped Carl to climb out of the back of the van so that he could stand and stretch a little.

"So...?" Rick pressed as he carefully held his sons arm to make sure the boy didn't fall. "What happened?"

Both Carl and Michonne shifted their attention onto Daryl, the three silent for a spell as they tried to figure out who would be the one to tell it. Finally, Carl cleared his throat. "Well, getting to the place Daryl had talked about was easy, didn't have any trouble getting there or getting the stuff."

"But?" Beth urged the boy on.

"I found some fishing poles and thought we'd try and get some fresh fish back here. On the way back here we found a pretty big pond and stopped to try and catch some."

"Just get to the point," Conrad interrupted, "how'd you and Daryl get shot?"

Carl glared in Conrad's direction before turning his gaze back to Daryl. The elder male swallowed hard and glanced around at the group. Even on his good days he had a hard time talking in front of crowds, especially about something that had the potential to be emotional. Talking about his father was always emotional. Daryl realized at that moment that all eyes were on him now, waiting on him to say more. He took in a deep breath, then cleared his throat while attempting to stall. "Michonne an' Carl were out on the water tryin' to fish an' I was lookin' to hunt somethin' in the woods around it. I found a walker with it's head cut off, the head was still makin' noise an' so I knew that meant there had to be someone else around." He glanced toward Rick, who's jaw had clenched tightly in anticipation. "I counted off the tracks on the ground and knew there had to be more'n a couple of 'em.

"Soon as I realized that I high-tailed it back to the lake an' got 'em to come back to shore so we could get outta there. Barely made it to the car before they came up on us.. turns out they was the guys that was chasin' you guys down before." Daryl stated, for the moment leaving out the fact that the leader was his father.

"That doesn't explain how you guys were shot." Beth stated, gingerly rubbing her husbands back.

Daryl swallowed hard and looked at Michonne who nodded softly for him to continue. "Like I said, they was the guys chasin' after Rick an' Carl before, we only knew that because they recognized Carl.. well, not really recognized him but figured he looked familiar since he looks like Rick an' all. An' I wouldn't let Carl get outta the car cause.. well.. I.." once more the male glanced to Michonne and then Carl before he continued, "I knew the guy leadin' 'em.."

He opened his mouth to say more but everyone else began asking him various questions all at once. Carl sighed loudly between Daryl and Rick and pushed his way to stand in front of the older male. "Hey! Give him a break here, he can't really answer if you don't stop!" He called over them all, which also silenced the lot.

Beth squeezed her husbands hand softly and reassuringly in the hopes that it would help. He brushed a hand quickly over his short hair and shifted his gaze down to the petite blonde. "He's my ol' man."

"What?" Beth asked, her voice suddenly void of emotion. She knew just what kind of person William Dixon was, she knew what he had done to Daryl and his brother, Merle, as children. What was worse was that she remembered Daryl's statement from so many months ago that most of the truly good people that had been a part of this world were gone and those that were left had been hardened. She could only imagine just how a man who had been so truly horrible before all of this could be shaped into even more of a monster in this world. "He didn't follow you guys, did he?" She asked, wide-eyed.

Michonne shook her head a little, "I think that we lost them, but.. we can't be completely sure." She told the group.

All eyes turned toward the wall, wondering if they were as safe as they'd thought behind it.

**–**

**As always, reviews are appreciated.**


	52. Cold Storage

**FIFTY-TWO – COLD STORAGE**

**Disclaimer: Do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_** or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.**

**Warnings: Language**

**Authors Note: Wow, has it really been over a year since I made a post to this? Seems so. Well, hopefully there's still some readers out there and I'm hoping to get back into writing this. I've got so many ideas for this, I'm not particularly ready to end it yet. Well, here it is, hope you all enjoy it.**

–

Her dark eyes turned toward the sky as she shivered. Rosie really wished that she had a thicker and warmer coat for the coming winter. Although, judging by the sky the winter wasn't coming, it was already here. A sigh fell through her lips, fogging the air in front of her. The ground had hardened over the night, patched with white frost everywhere and while it hadn't yet begun to snow, Rosie was sure it wasn't far away now.

She tucked her gloved hands into the pockets of her worn out jacket and continued her stroll along the top of the wall. The sun was high in the sky and if she had to guess it was probably close to 4PM. _Great, another hour or so and it'll be dark again,_ she thought and grimaced. It was even worse at night, the cold truly set in and without the thick blankets and heaters of the old days there was next to nothing to keep out the chill. She wondered if Conrad would allow her to warm his bed again, but then the memories of their semi break-up played through her head and she decided it might not be worth it.

After all, she still had a bit of trouble controlling that flirty side of herself and was certain that until she was ready to settle down, Conrad wouldn't want her. She let another sigh slip through her lips, frowning darkly at the fog that formed in front of her. It'd been quiet in Terminus since Daryl, Michonne and Carl's arrival back almost a week ago. The most exciting thing that had happened was when Gavin had been goofing off with Tara on the wall and had taken a fall off of it. Thankfully the guard hadn't damaged anything other than his pride and his shot at the pretty blonde.

Another shiver went through the girl as she hunkered down, attempting to warm herself by walking along the rim of the wall, eyes scanning the desolate earth on the other side while every now and again turning toward the city to watch small wisps of smoke furl out of chimneys as people sparingly burned wood to keep themselves warm.

There had been so much worry about Daryl's father and his group tracing the bowman back to Terminus but it had slowly begun to die away. She assumed that Daryl still worried because he clung a little closer to Beth than he had in quite some time. Of course, Rosie didn't know all of the horrid things that Daryl's father had done, so she didn't know the reason why the male was so worried.

She pulled her hand from inside her jacket to wipe at her nose, regretting it instantly since her fingers prickled at the sudden cold and her nose ached from being so numb. Wondering when the last time someone had gotten frostbite in Georgia was, Rosie allowed herself to get lost in thought as she walked slowly along. Most of the time her attention was focused out toward the other side of the wall, even if she weren't really seeing it, so when the sound of someone clearing their throat echoed behind her Rosie jumped and whirled toward the sound.

Conrad smiled tenderly at her, brows arched slightly. "Thought you were paying attention." He stated and stepped closer to her. "Here.. ain't much but figured it would help." The Captain held out a black thermal mug toward her.

Rosie reached for it, ignoring the cold biting at her fingers, then twisted the cap and watched the steam rise from inside. "Thank you. And I was paying attention, by the way."

"Right, that's why you jumped a mile."

"Did not. I'd just gotten used to the quiet." She countered, hoping it would defend her actions, though knew that her excuse fell a little flat. Conrad simply smiled but said nothing in return. Both were silent for a few moments, looking in toward the city and it's silence.

"I wouldn't," Conrad said as Rosie raised the mug to her lips. Without looking at her he knew that her brows had shot up in confusion and chuckled lightly. "Rick and about twenty others have burned their mouths already, I'd give it a few minutes in the air before you try."

"Ah, well, in that case.." she let the sentence drop off as she unscrewed the cap on the mug and allowed it to 'breathe' in the cooler air in the hopes that it would cool off just enough to drink. With the lid off she was able to look inside and smiled at the realization that his 'not much' was soup of some sort. Enough to warm and fill her all at once. _Bless that man,_ she thought while looking over at him.

Conrad had his hands shoved deep into the Carhart jacket that he'd picked up shortly after they'd started Terminus. "It's quiet out here," he murmured, "peaceful, even."

"Mm." Rosie hummed in response, her gaze focused more on him than on the city he was watching. It was almost like watching a God admire something he created. He was proud of what he'd accomplished here, proud that their city was still kicking after everything that had hit over the last couple of years. She had to admit that she was surprised most of the time. It didn't seem as if the place would make it through everything it had, especially when most other civilizations had failed.

Conrad turned his gaze onto the pretty red-head and smiled gently after what seemed like forever in silence. He nodded toward the mug in her hand, "should be okay now."

For that split second she'd forgotten about the slowly chilling thermos in her hands in light of the little smile that had formed on his lips. "Thanks again." Her brown eyes danced over his features, though still didn't take a drink with the worry it would burn her.

"You've been on the wall all day. Didn't see you at lunch or dinner, figured you might have been hungry."

She nodded softly in thought before shaking her head. "Hadn't really thought too much about getting out of here today." Her slender shoulders rose and fell in a quick shrug as her attention focused out on the other side of the wall.

Conrad glanced toward the dark and desolate land for only a moment before shifting his gaze back onto the red-head. "What's goin' on, Rose?"

"Nothing at all, just been lost in my own head. You know how that goes." She said with a quick smile, attempting to brush off his concerned expression. Her eyes didn't linger long on his face, but instead quickly turned to the steaming mug in her hands. Without another word she took a drink from it and instantly wished she'd waited a few moments longer as the sudden heat scalded her tongue and the roof of her mouth.

"Rose." Her brown eyes shifted upward, locking onto those pale blue orbs. "What's going on?" Conrad asked again, his voice softer this time.

"Like I said, been lost in my own head." She repeated, forcing a smile. Rosie didn't realize until he shifted his weight just how close he'd moved toward her, hell she hadn't even noticed he'd moved.

Conrad took a step back and let out a nearly inaudible sigh. "Right." He returned her forced smile and glanced out toward the empty fields for a split second before back to her. "Enjoy the soup.. and, uh, don't spend all night out here, okay?" He turned to leave and Rosie had a moment of indecision.

In her hesitance he'd managed to take several steps away. She battled with herself for a moment or two longer, watching him grow further away, before capping the thermos and darting after him. Conrad had just reached the platform to descend the ladder when Rosie reached him. "Conrad, wait."

He halted and turned toward the petite red-head just as she placed the mug down on a post. Before he had the chance to react she threw her arms around his shoulders and leaned in close to press her lips to his, which took a bit of effort as she had to pull him down to her. The tall male stood frozen for a beat, then slipped his arms around her waist and tugged her closer at the same moment that his lips responded to the pressure of hers.

–––

Carl sighed silently as he shifted the hat on his head to block out the early morning sunlight, which was difficult since he was looking up toward the wall that Michonne stood on. She was bundled in a leather jacket, katana strapped to her back and a handgun holstered on her hip. He, like several others, was still worried about the mysterious crew they'd run across finding Terminus. And he, like several others, had tried to talk to Daryl about the guy that was leading them. Daryl, unfortunately, seemed to have said all he was going to say to a large crowd about his father.

He adjusted his hat again when he looked down and winced at the feeling of his bandage tugging away from his ear. He had several bandages on him at this point, though no one was truly worried about there being too much damage. Carl knew he would have a scar on his stomach and wasn't worried, his ear was now disfigured as well, but that didn't bother him either. War wounds, battle scars, survival marks; All words he'd heard referring to things like this since he was young. His grandfather had been in a war and his father had been an officer, he'd heard it all.

"Carl!" He turned quickly at the sound of a girls voice and a wide smile pulled at his lips at the sight of Anna, blonde hair flowing behind her as she ran toward him. "How are you doin'?" She asked when she finally caught up with him.

"Good, good. How are you?"

Her shoulders shrugged up quickly, "not bad I guess. Not much work to do in the fields today, so we've got a little break. I was going to go see my sister, but.. I thought I'd walk with you instead. If that's okay?"

"Sure, I wasn't going anywhere really but I'd like to walk with you." He answered while sticking his hands in his pockets uncertainly. Carl liked Anna but he'd never really spent much time around girls to be completely confident. Anna on the other hand seemed to be perfectly at ease in his company and if she didn't notice his slight awkwardness, at least pretended not to.

"So, how's everything healing?"

Now it was Carl's turn to shrug his shoulders. "Not too bad, I guess. Sammi says the only lasting damage will be to my ear."

Her nose wrinkled up a little at the mention. "I saw what a mess it was when you guys got back, think it'll be bad?"

"Can't be any worse than some of the other stuff we've seen, you know? I mean, Beth and Maggie's dad had to have his foot amputated, Daryl's brother had his hand taken off. I've seen worse than a mangled ear."

Anna fell silent for a few moments as they walked, chewing at her lower lip in thought. "Is it true?"

"What?"

"I've heard a couple people talking, saying it's Daryl's dad that shot you.. and that he might be coming this way."

Carl stopped walking now and turned to face her, brows furrowed. "Who told you that?"

"Just talk I heard." She watched him curiously now while awaiting an answer.

"I don't think he wanted a lot of people to know about that.. can you not tell anyone?" While he didn't confirm it, Carl didn't outright deny the validity of her statement either.

Anna nodded quickly as she looked at him. "I'll keep it to myself. I," she hesitated for a moment or two while combing her fingers back through her hair, "I just wanted to know that we were going to be okay here."

The young male frowned in thought before reaching out a hand to gently take hold of hers. "I don't know. I mean, I can't promise it for sure, but I can promise that if we're not I'll protect you." A tender sort of smile pulled at his lips. "Besides, I don't think we really have to worry all that much. We've got them outnumbered four to one here."

–––

"You know that eventually you're going to have to talk to me about it." Beth said as she gently rocked DJ to lull him back to sleep.

Daryl sighed while patting Marcus on the back, "I told ya I don't wanna talk about it at all."

"And bottling it up isn't the way to go."

"I ain't bottlin' nothin' up. I jus' don't wanna talk 'bout my ol' man."

"Well, you need to do something besides pace the house and snap at people. It's obviously bothering you."

"It ain't either." Daryl snapped, the harshness in his tone enough to cause Marcus to jerk awake. Another sigh fell from his lips as he settled himself down and began patting the baby again.

Beth's brows rose as if to say 'oh, really?'. "If you're not going to talk to me, at least talk to Rick or Michonne. Hell, talk to Rosie for all I care, but don't sit here and let it eat at you. You're worried and anyone who spends more than five minutes with you can tell. You've _got_ to talk to someone."

He fell silent as he got the baby to fall asleep, holding onto him a few minutes longer than really needed before getting him settled into the crib for bed. Beth said nothing as she laid DJ beside his brother, then stepped out of the room. After dropping down onto the couch she stared out the window in silence, letting her husband know that unless he wanted to continue it, the subject was dropped.

Daryl stood in the doorway of their bedroom for almost five minutes, staring at the crib. He turned quietly and walked toward the couch. "What am I s'posed to say?" He asked, resting his hands on the back of the couch beside her head. "That bein' near him made me feel like I was six years old again? That his group looks like the worst sort'a motorcycle gang in the world and the thought of them comin' here near you and the boys scares the shit outta me? What do you want me to say?"

"Anything, as long as you talk to me, get it out. Do you really think he'll make it here?"

Daryl was quiet for several moments in thought. If he wanted nothing more than to soothe himself and Beth he would say 'no', that there was no way in hell his father would be able to track them here. If he were honest with himself, then he knew the answer was that his father could easily track them down. It wouldn't be that hard, really. Especially if he'd already seen the signs that pointed to Terminus, they were everywhere. It was possible that the crew had already been on the way here before they'd even run across Daryl, Michonne and Carl.

"Daryl?"

He jumped, having gotten so lost in his thoughts and worries that he hadn't realized Beth had stood and come around the back of the couch. She placed a hand on up arm as she stepped closer to him. He reached out and placed his hand over hers before clutching it loosely. "Yeah.. I do."

She nodded, though didn't push him for more as she wrapped her free arm around his waist and rested her head on his back.

**–**

**As always, reviews are appreciated.**


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